
Class. 
Book 

OFFICIAL DONATION. 



DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR-U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 
CHARLES D. WAXCOTT, DIRECTOR 



THE 



LEWIS AND CLARKE FOREST RESERVE, MONTANA 



BY 



H. B. AY RES 



EXTRACT FROM THE TWENTY-FIRST ANNUAL REPORT OF THE SURVEY, 1899-1900 

PART V, FOREST RESERVES— HENRY GANNETT, CHIEF OF 

DIVISION OF GEOGRAPHY AND FORESTRY 




WASHINGTON 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 
19 00 



" 



LEWIS AND CLARKE FOREST RESERVE. MONTANA 



II. B. AYUHK 



APR 13 1905 
D. of D. 






CONTENTS. 



Pag< 

Boundaries 35 

Topography - ' S6 

Rock , 37 

Soil 37 

Humus 38 

Litter 38 

Agricultural and grazing land 39 

The forest . 41 

Species 41 

Distribution 41 

Size and quality - 41 

Estimates 44 

Young growth 44 

Underbrush 15 

Cutting 16 

Fi res 47 

Extent 47 

< lauses is 

Intensity 48 

Damage 4!) 

Deady '""1 49 

Reproduction 19 

Liability to tire 50 

Effei-t of fire on composition of forest . 50 

Kate of growth "ill 

Accessibility 51 

Markets 52 

Suggestions for management 52 

Regulations suggested for cutting 53 

Mining 53 

Climate... 53 

Occupancy. 5 i 

Fish and game 55 

V : 55 

Explanation of maps 56 

Missouri River drainage or eastern slope of Continental Divide 57 

Topography 57 

Rock 57 

Soil 57 

Subsoil 57 

Litter 5s 

Trees and timber 58 

29 



30 CONTENTS. 

Misssouri River drainage or eastern slope of < 'ontinental Divide — Continued. Page. 

Young growth 60 

Underbrush 60 

Firea 60 

Reproduction 61 

Effect of burns on water flow 62 

I I. •:(' Iw I 62 

Cutting 62 

Transportation 63 

I Vn Kind 64 

Agricultural land 64 

J rrigal ion 64 

Occupancy 64 

Water pi iwer 65 

Mining _ 65 

Valley of Middle Fork of Flathead River 65 

Ti ipography 55 

Rock 65 

Soil 65 

Litter 66 

Humus 66 

Trees and timber 66 

Estimates 66 

Yi mng '_ r n iwth 66 

Underbrush 67 

Fires 67 

Deadw « »1 67 

Cutting 67 

Transportation 67 

Demand 67 

Agricultural land 68 

Water power _ 68 

Occupancy 68 

Mining 68 

Valley i if Si mth Fork of Flathead River 68 

Topography 68 

Ri «k 69 

Soil 69 

Subsoil 69 

Humus 69 

Litter 70 

Trees and timber _ 70 

Yc mng growth 71 

Underbrush 71 

Fires and reproduction 72 

Effect of fires 72 

Deadwood 7M 

Cutting 73 

Transportation 73 

Demand 73 

Agricultural land 73 

Irrigation 73 

Occupancy 73 

Water power 73 

Mining 73 



CONTENTS. 31 

Swan-Clearwater Valley 74 

Topography 74 

Rock 74 

Soil 74 

Sul llrOil _ 75 

Humus 75 

Litter 75 

Trees and timber 75 

Young or sapling growth 7B 

Underbrush 77 

Fires _ 77 

Reproduction 7s 

Deadwood 79 

Cutting __ 7;i 

Transportation _ 711 

Demand 7;i 

Agricultural land si) 

< < razing _ . . so 

( lecupancy 80 

Water power 80 

fining 80 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Page. 
Plate II. Jam of logs in Blackfoot River 35 

III. Land-classification map, Lewis and Clarke Forest Reserve In atlas 

IV. .1, View along summit of eastern range. /.'. Mountains of lime- 

stone, North Fork of Teton Creek 36 

V. .1, Head of North Fork of Sun River, against wall of Continental 

Divide. B, Severe burn on mountainside 36 

VI. .1, Burned mountain side not restocked; now vegetation .if grass, 
lupine, rose, service berry, paint weed, etc. /•'. Hannon's ranch 

and valley of Storehouse ( 'reek 38 

VII. .1, Mission Range from near Holland's ranch. />'. Yellow pine near 

Holland's ranch . Upper Swan River Valley 38 

VIII. Map of Lewis and Clarke Forest Reserve, showing distribution of 

mountain larch, western larch, and Patton hemlock 40 

IX. A, Upper Swan River Valley. B, Yellow pine on shore of Placid 

Lake 42 

X. A, Mountain side looking east from Camp Creek Pass. /)', Opening 

in yellow-pine forest on Jocko trail, I mile north of Placid Lake. 42 
XL A, Larch, yellow pine, and red fir with sparse seedlings. /•'. Yellow 

pine frequently and lightly burned . . 44 

XII. A, Mill on Smith Creek, southwest of Haystack P>utte. /,', Dead- 
wood partly cut, South Fork of Teton Creek... 44 

XIII. .1, Cutting and skidding on Placid Creek. /.', Burn of 1889, Upper 

Dearborn River, ."> miles cast of Ptarmigan Peak 46 

XIV. Map of Lewis and Clarke Forest Reserve, showing distribution of 

cedar, hemlock, white pine, and silver fir 48 

XV. .1, Dam across outlet of Placid Lake. B, Nutpine (Pinus albicaulw) 
killed by lire, south end of White Ridge near Middle Fork of Sun 

River. 50 

XVI. .1, Lodgepole pine following larch and yellow pine killed by lire. 

B, Group of red fir probably killed by drought 50 

XVII. .1, Effect of repeated fires. /.'. East shore of Swan Lake, near Bond's. 52 
XVIII. .1. House of a squatter on the reserve. /A Colony of half-breed 

woodcutters ..n South Fork of Teton Creek 54 

XIX. .1, Holland's ranch. Upper Swan River Valley. B, Cutting lodge- 
pole pine 54 

XX. .1, Continental Divide from head of Little Badger Creek. B, Debris 
from burned mountain valley tributary to Dearborn River; from 
southwest slope of Mount Dearborn, 5 miles west of reserve line. 56 

XXI. A, Mill on South Fork of Teton Creek. B, North Fork of Sun 

River, looking southeastward up valley 58 

•_'l GEOL, PT 5 3 33 



34 ILLUSTRATIONS. 

l'age. 

Plate XXII. .1, Valley of North Fork of Sun River, looking southward toward 
junction of North and Middle forks. B, Head of Middle Fork 
of Flathead River 60 

XXIII. .1, Homestead cabin. B, Natural thinning among lodgepole 

pine, Upper Swan River Valley 62 

XXIV. .1, Engelmann spruce on mountain side south of Upper Mon- 

tour Creek. /•'. Stump land unburned, adjoining reserve on 

the south 64 

XXV. A, Swan Lake, looking southward from point •'! miles above out- 
let. II, Looking across lake toward McDonald Peak from 
summit of Swan-Clearwater Pass 66 

XXVI. .1, Mixed forest of yellow pine, lodgepole pine, and larch. 1>. 

Yellow pine and larch, Upper Swan River Valley 68 

XXVII. Map of Lewis and Clarke Forest Reserve, showing distribution 

i if yellow pine, white-hark pine, and limber pine 70 

XXVIII. A, Large yellow pine, 2 miles north of Holland's ranch, Upper 
Swan River Valley. B, Line of burn of 1889 in lodgepole 
pine 72 

XXIX. A, Effect of moderate fires; surviving larch with undergrowth of 
lodgepole pine, red fir, and larch. 73, Large yellow pine, sub- 
ordinate lodgepole; Jocko trail near Placid Lake. 74 

XXX. A, Stump land in T. 26 ST., R. 19 W., restocked densely with 

red fir. B, Larch and lodgepi lie pine on burn of 1889 74 

XXXI. A, Moderate burn in lodgepole pine and larch, mountain ridge 
west of north end of Elbow Lake. B, Young larch and li idge- 
pole pine coming in after fire under surviving larch, north of 
Holland Lake, looking east toward < lordon Pass 76 

XXXII. .1. Mixed yellow pine and red fir in T. 26 X.. R. 19 W. B, 

Burned mountain side, South Fork of Birch Creek 78 



LEWIS AND CLARKE FOREST RESERVE, 
MONTANA. 



By H. B. Aykes. 



BOUXD ARIES. 

The boundaries of this reserve, as established by Executive order of 
February 22, 1897, are as follows: 

Beginning at the point on the south boundary of the Blackfeet Indian Reservation 
where said boundary line is intersected by the range line between ranges eight (8) 
and nine (9) west principal meridian, Montana; thence southwesterly along the 
south boundary to the southwest corner of said reservation and northwesterly along 
the west boundary thereof, as defined and described in the act of Congress approved 
June tenth, eighteen hundred and ninety-six, entitled "An act making appropri- 
ations for current and contingent expenses of the Indian Department and fulfilling 
treaty stipulations with various Indian tribes for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, 
eighteen hundred and ninety-seven, and for other purposes," to the point where the 
unsurveyed range line between ranges twelve (12) and thirteen (13) west will inter- 
sect said boundary line; thence southerly along said unsurveyed range line to the 
point for the northeast corner of township twenty -nine (29) north, range thirteen 
(13) west; thence westerly along the unsurveyed township line to the point for the 
northwest corner of said township; thence southerly along the unsurveyed range line 
to the point for the southwest corner of section eighteen (18), said township; thence 
westerly along the unsurveyed section line to the point for the northwest corner of 
section nineteen (19), township twenty-nine (29) north, range fourteen (14) west; 
thence southerly along the unsurveyed range line to the point for the southwest 
corner of said township twenty-nine (29) north, range fourteen (14) west; thence 
westerly along the unsurveyed seventh (7th) standard parallel north to the point for 
the southeast corner of township twenty-nine (29) north, range seventeen (17) 
west; thence northerly along the unsurveyed range line to the point for the north- 
east corner of said township; thence westerly along the unsurveyed township line to 
the point for the northwest corner of section three (3), said township; thence north- 
erly along the unsurveyed section line to the point for the northeast corner of section 
four (4), township thirty (30) north, range seventeen (17) west; thence westerly 
along the unsurveyed township line to the point for the northwest corner of section 
three (3), township thirty (30) north, range nineteen (19) west; thence southerly 
along the unsurveyed and surveyed section line, subject to the proper offset on the 
seventh (7th) standard parallel north, to the southeast corner of section twenty-one 
(21 i. township twenty-eight (28) north, range nineteen (19) west; thence easterly 
along the unsurveyed section line to the point for the southeast corner of section 
twenty-four (24), said township; thence southerly along the unsurveyed and sur- 

35 



3tl FOREST KK-KK\ KS. 

veyed range line to the southeast comer of township twenty-seven (27 | north, range 
nineteen 19) west; thence easterly along the surveyed and unsurveyed township 
line to the point for the northwest corner of section three 3 . township twenty-sis 
(26) north, range eighteen (18 west; thence southerly along the unsurveyed Bection 
line to the point for the southwest corner of section thirty-four I 34 I, said township; 
thence westerly along the unsurveyed and surveyed township line to its intersection 
with the east shore of Flathead Lake; thence southerly along the Bhore of said lake 
to the north boundary of the Flathead Indian Reservation; thence easterly along 
the north boundary to the northeast corner of said reservation and southerly along 
the east boundary thereof to the point where said boundary line will be intersected 
by the unsurveyed fourth (4th) standard parallel north; thence easterly along said 
unsurveyed parallel to the point for the southeast corner of township seventeen (17) 
north, range seven 7 west; thence northerly along the unsurveyed range line to the 
point for the northeast corner of said township; thence westerly along the unsur- 
veyed township line to the point for the northwest corner of said township; thence 
northerly along the unsurveyed range line to the point for the northeast corner of 
township eighteen (18) north, range eight (8) west; thence westerly along the 
unsurveyed township line to the point for the southeast corner of township nineteen 
orth, range nine (9) west; thence northerly along the unsurveyed andsurveyed 
range line between ranges eight (8) and nine (9 west, subject to the proper offsets 
on the fifth (5th). sixth (6th), and seventh (7th) standard parallels north, to the 
point of intersection with the south boundary of the Blackfeet Indian Reservation, 

the place of beginning. 

TOPOGRAPHY. 

The area of the reserve is 4,572 square miles, or 2,926,000 acres. 
It occupies the whole breadth of the Rocky Mountains, excepting the 
narrow western slope of Mission Ridge, the summit of which forms 
the greater part of the western boundary. The Hooky Mountains 
hen- consist of four parallel ranges, usually sharp and distinct, the 
western two especially so, with long, narrow valleys between them 
(PI. IV. A). These valley- are drained principally by uorthward- 
tiowino- streams, hut the eastern range is cut across about the middle 
of the eastern boundary by Sun River, which drains a great portion 
of the next valley west of the eastern range into the Missouri River. 
The North Fork of Dearborn River also drains the southeastern por- 
tion of the reserve to the eastward. Across the whole reserve from 
McDonald Peak on the west to Mount Dearborn on the ea-t is a trans- 
verse divide, forming a watershed between the streams flowing north 
into the Flathead River and those flowing south into the Blackfoot 
River. The principal peaks of the main ranges are between 7,000 and 
lo. ooo feet in altitude, while the main valleys are between 3,000 and 

5.000 feet. 

The reserve is naturally divided by the mountains into four large 
areas: First, the portion which is drained eastward, having an area of 
about l.iioo square miles; second, that drained northward by the 
Middle Fork of Flathead River, having an area of about .">7»i square 
miles; third, the lone- valley of the South Fork of Flathead River, 
which is continuous with the valley of the North Fork of Blackfoot 
River, the two having- an area id' about 1,860 square miles; fourth. 



M SURVCV 



ANNUAL REPORT PART V 




A. VIEW ALONG SUMMIT OF EASTERN 




. 



. 



































ayres.] LEWIS AND CLARKE RESERVE, MONTANA. 37 

the Swan-Clearwater Valley, more regular in outline and with broader 
bottom and lower altitude, having an area within the reserve of about 
728 square miles. The valley of Swan River is continuous with that 
of the Clearwater, being separated only by a low morainic divide. 

BOCK. 

Limestone is of extensive occurrence, nearly all the summits, both 
of the peaks and ridges, being composed of it. Much of it is fossilifer- 
ous (Pis. IV . II. and V. .1). Most of it is said to be of good quality 
for building stone. 

Interbedded quartzites are occasionally seen, and green schistose 
rocks are found in the canyons. One especially good exposure of 
schist is in the lower canyon of the North Fork of Teton Creek. 

Igneous rock, bearing traces of copper, occurs on Upper Smith 
(reck, southwest of Augusta, and extends southwestward. A dark 
igneous rock is also found extending northward from the warm springs 
on Sun River. 

Black shale is abundant in the valley of the North Fork of Sun 
River. A bright-red arenaceous shale extends from near the warm 
springs southward to the headwaters of Ford Creek. 

Cretaceous rocks form the eastern foothills. Tertiary coal-bearing 
rocks are found in the lower portion of the valley of the South Fork 
of the Flathead. 

Few mining prospects are found within the reserve. Those seen 
were on Smith Creek and in the lower portion of the valley of the 
South Fork of Flathead River. Quartz is nowhere abundant. 

Outside of the reserve, but not far from the boundary, copper claims 
are located on the North Fork of Blackfoot River, and on Smith Creek. 
below White's mill. Some other claims were staked during L898 on 
Summit Creek, not far above Java. 

Lignite coal is found on the South Fork of Flathead River, some 30 
miles from its mouth. 

East of the Continental Divide the strata dip southwestward. and 
west of the divide the general dip is northeastward. 

soil. 

In general the soil is shallow. The region has been glaciated in com- 
paratively recent time and but a small amount of soil has accumulated. 
The rock of the region being principally limestone, one expects the 
soil derived from it to be productive where physical composition, 
moisture, and climate are favorable to plant growth. Travel through 
the region proved this to be true, for in all the well-moistened and 
sheltered localities having a fair depth of loam a luxuriant growth of 
vegetation was found. Thrifty vegetation is by no means a simple 



38 



FOREST RESEEVES. 



index of the character of the soil on which it prows, but, considering 
the other factors influencing the growth of plants, it is an easy means 
of discovering the value of the soil. 

In the higher regions, or those above 6,000 feet, a large proportion 

of the surface is entirely destitute of soil, as it has been washed 
down the mountain sides as fast as formed. The middle slopes vary 
greatly as to soil, and while in some of the basins or on the more 
moderate slopes there is an accumulation of loam, many strips on the 
mountain sides are nearly bare. Even where slopes are moderate there 
are many very steep and even precipitous places where nothing but 
rock is exposed. The valleys contain a great deal of gravel, morainal 
material brought down from the mountains by glaciers and worked 
over by water in more recent times. Clay was seen in many of the 
river bluffs and in terraces along the sides of the valleys. The distri- 
bution of clays and gravels is so irregular that it would be impracti- 
cable to make a satisfactory map of them. 

HUMTJS. 

Humus is generally light, varying according to the fertility of the 
soil and favorable climatic conditions. The eastern slope has been 
burned so much that there is little humus left, except in the lower 
foothills (PI. VI. A). The summits of the mountain ridges have, of 
course, very little humus, as not much vegetation grows there. The 
river bottoms here, in contrast with bottom lands in low countries or 
regions of moderate slope, have so much gravel and sand that they do 
not produce a rank growth of vegetation; consequently there is but 
little humus on them. 

In general, the earth is but slightly covered with humus, even the 
unburned woods seldom having a depth of more than 2 or 3 inches. 
There are exceptions, of course, in damp places along small streams, 
in springy places, and in the isolated sloughs. 

In the banks of small streams that have changed their courses 
several feet of black earth sometimes appear. This, however, is an 
alluvial deposit washed down from the hills by the streams, and is not 
to be considered as humus. 

LITTER. 

While varying somewhat with the fertility of the soil, the amount 
of litter depends greatly upon the occurrence and the intensity of tire. 
It is scant on all the higher land, where the soil is thin, climate 
severe, and vegetation restricted, but it is found on burned areas, on 
mountain sides, and in valleys (PI. V, B). 

On the burned areas shown on the accompanying map (PI. Ill) 
there is very little material except the trunks of trees killed by tire, 
but these in many cases amount to a large number. 



U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEV 



Twenty-first annual report part v pl. vl 




.1. BURNT MOUNTAIN SIOE NOT RESTOCKED. 

New vegetatmn of t'jass lupine, rose, service berry, paint weed, etc. 




B HANNONS RANCH AND VALLEY OF STOREHOUSE CREEK 



■'■■'! *$*" 






'-.Vi **■ 



: ! :'■ 



ayres] LEWIS AND CLARKE RESERVE, MONTANA. 39 

The forested region not visited by recent tires has a very small 
amount of deadwood, usually very much less than is found on the 
burns, but here is much more of the tine litter, such as leaves, twigs, 
and moss. 

Except for deadwood, the amount of litter is light east of the Conti- 
nental Divide, and heavy in the unburned portion of the valley of the 
Middle Fork of Flathead River, where the old forest is being slowly 
replaced by new. It is moderately abundant in the valley of the 
South Fork of Flathead River, which is patched with burns. The 
lower half of the Swan River Valley is in about the same condition, 
but the upper half has been much burned and has a dense network of 
fallen trees over a large part of the surface. 

AGRICULTURAL AND GRAZING LANDS. 

Excepting that angle of the reserve reaching northeastward into the 
plains, with Birch Creek as its northern boundary, and having an area 
of about 90 square miles, there is no strictly agricultural land within 
the reserve. In each of the main valleys some vegetables and hay 
could be grown, but the product could not compete successfully with 
that produced under more favorable conditions. 

While agricultural land is scarce, there are several favorable loca- 
tions for small ranches (PI. VI, B). These areas, excepting along 
the eastern foothills, are isolated and difficult of access and subject to 
deep snows in winter, which would make it necessary for the rancher 
to put up much hay. Natural hay is found in some quantity in wil- 
low bottoms, or sloughs, and some prairies would yield a good crop 
of hay under cultivation. On the North Fork of Sui^River is a prairie 
having an area of about 10 square miles, on which there is but little 
natural hay, but the land could easily be irrigated, and timothy could 
lie grown. 

South of Sun River the valleys of Beaver Creek and of the South 
Fork of the North Fork of Sun River have considerable areas of grass 
lam I. All through the foothills bordering the plains and in the nar- 
row valleys between the ridges south of Ear Butte are, perhaps, 100 
square miles of land on which there is more or less grass, but it is 
rather difficult of access and undesirable for grazing on account of the 
deadwood killed by tires. This area, with the eastern foothills north- 
ward, has once been nearly all wooded, but frequent incursions of tire 
from the plains have reduced and even exterminated much of the forest, 
which has been succeeded by a mixture of grasses and weeds. 

In the valley of the Middle Fork of the Flathead only one area of 
grass land was seen, and that was a willow bottom along a stream 
tributary to the Big, or East Fork. This area seemed to be about a 
mile long and a quarter to half a mile wide. 



40 I'nKKST EE8EEVES. 

Near the bead of Willow Creek is a large willow bottom with bunch- 
grass prairie on the hills bordering it. Mr. Donahue has a ranch on 

this bottom stocked with about 100 head of cattle. 

Below the mouth of Willow Creek is an area of 800 to 1,000 acres 
of grass land, much of which is tire made, affording excellent summer 
grazing. Hay could easily be grown here by irrigation. A short 
distance above the mouth of White River is an area of about .'loo 
acres of prairie. Here and there, in passing down the South Folk, 
small areas of grass were found on the most gravelly portions of the 
river bottom. 

In the Clearwater Valley, about the head of Clearwater Lake and 
about the other lakes of the chain between this lake and the summit, 
are meadows of sedge, or Hat grass, with small areas of upland grass. 
The grass and hay land in the Clearwater drainage amounts to per- 
haps 500 acres. 

Over the divide, in the Swan River Valley, on Holland Creek, are 
some 200 acres of natural prairie land, with fair grazing also under 
the adjacent scattered timber. This land is occupied as a ranch 
(PI. VII.. 1). 

About 8 or 10 miles below this ranch is a morainic region of gravel 
hills and ridges, with intermediate sloughs, on which there is much 
grass of inferior quality (PI. IX. .1). The abundance of hay may. 
however, offset the inferior quality of pine grass and induce someone 
to try ranching there.' 

Above the mouth of Jim Creek, on the trail to Crow Creek Pass, is 
a prairie of some 500 acres, part of which is irrigable and well adapted 
to hay. 

At the head of Swan Lake are about 500 acres of hay land, but there 
is very little grazing land in that vicinity. Numerous small areas of 
grass land occur elsewhere in this valley, but none of them warrant an 
attempt at stock raising. 

On the mountain ridges, approaching timber line, are many grassy 
basins and parks, and many ridges are scantily covered with a tine blue 
bunch grass {Festnca ovvrvaf). This mountain grass land is probably 
due to the prevalence of snow, which prevents growth of trees. The 
lingering snow leaves hardly more than two months of the year availa- 
ble for pasturage. Most of such areas are practically inaccessible for 
stock and are of no present use as grass land. In the entire reserve 
there are probably 200 square miles of grass land. 



U. S GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 



TWENTY-FI RST ANNUAL REPORT PART V PL. VIII 




LEWIS AND CLARK FOREST RESERVE 

MONTANA 

Showing distribution of Lyall larch .Western larch.and Patton hemlock 

Prepared under the direction ofHenry GanneU Geographer in charge 

by II. H.AYUKS 
Scale 



JULIUS Bit* a CC r 



I LYALL LARCH 

I I .a > i\ lAviliu - 



Sketch caiitours 
1899 

LEGEND 

I WESTERN LARCH [~ 
1 i l.ari x occidentalis 



1 PATTON HEMLOCK 
J i Tsuga patoiieana < 



AYKES.l 



LEWIS AND CLARKE RESERVE, MONTANA. 



41 



THE FOKEST. 

SPECIES. 

The trees growing within the reserve arc as follows: 

s growing within Lewisand Clarke Forest Reserve, Montana, 



name. 


mon name. 


General distribution. 




Yellow pine 


Swan-Clearwater Valley and 
Smith Fork of Flathead. 


Pinus monticola 


White pine 


Lower Swan River, South Fork 
and Middle Fork of Flathead. 




Lodgepole pine 


Ever} » here below 7,000 feel 


Pinus albicaulis 


Nut pine 


Wesi of Continental Dh ide above 
6,000 feet. 




Pinus llexilis 


Limber pine 


East of ( Continental 1 >i\ ide. 




Engelrnann spruce. . 


Everyw here. 


Picea alba 


White spruce 


Deton Creek. 


Larix occidentalis 


Western larch 


West of Continental 1 >i\ ide. 


Larix lyallii 


Mountain larch 


Colonies on highest ranges. 


Pseudotsuga taxifolia. . 


Red fir 


Everj where below 7,000 feet. 


Allies lasiocarpa 


Balsam 


Everywhere. 




Silver fir 


Lower Swan and Flathead val- 

le\ s. 




Thuja plicata 


('.Mar 


Do. 


Tsuga heterophylla 

Populus angustifolia 


1 leuilnek 


Do. 


do 


Do. 

A.long lower streams 


1 lottonwood 


Populus trerauloides. . . 
Populus balsamifera. . . 


V. spell 


Patches below 7,000 feet. 
Eastern foothills. 


Balm of » rilead 



DISTRIBUTION. 

Yellow pine i^ found throughout the valley of the South Fork of 
Flathead River and in the Swan and Clearwater valleys below 3,500 
feet (PL IX. /!). White pine occurs in the Lower Swan River 
Valley, in lite lowei portion of the valley of the South Fork of 
Flathead River, and probably in the lower portion of the Middle 
Fork Valley, at elevations below l. nun feet. Lodgepole pine is gen- 
eral in distribution below 6,000 feet. Nut pine is found on all the 
highland west of the Continental Divide above 5,000 feet. Limber 
pine is confined to the eastern foothills below 7,000 feel (PL X. A). 
Engelrnann spruce is generally distributed and is found at till alti- 
tudes, but most abundant on the mountain Sides. White spruce, 
somewhat difficult to distinguish from Engelrnann spruce because of 
intermediate forms, oeeurs on the South Fork of Teton Creek. Larch 



42 FORKST RESERVES. 

is tlic principal timber tree in the Swan-Clearwater Valley. It is 
less abundant in the valley of the South Fork of Flathead River, and 
its farthest appearance to the eastward is in the valley of the Middle 
Fork nf Flathead River. Mountain larch is found in colonies here 
and there on the higher mountains. An unusually tine forest (for this 
species) is mar Camp Creek Pass, between Sun River and Willow 
Creek, on the very summit of the Continental Divide. A few trees 
arc found also on the summit of the range ju>t north of Pend Oreille 
Pass, between the West Fork of the South Fork of Flathead River 
and the Clearwater Valley. Red fir is found throughout the reserve 
below 6,000 feet. Balsam, like Engelmann spruce, is found at all alti- 
tudes, but is most abundant between 4,000 and li.ooo feet. Silver fir 
appears in the lower portion of the Swan River Valley, on the South 
Fork of Flathead, on the Middle Fork of Flathead, and a few trees are 
seen near the head of the North Fork of Sun River. Cedar has the 
same distribution, but is confined to the damp places along streams 
and in the bottoms of ravines. Hemlock has the same habitat and 
approximately the same distribution as cedar. Mountain hemlock is 
found only at the summit of the pass between Swan River and Clear- 
water River, in a clump of small trees about 8 feet high. Cottonwood 
is generally distributed along the streams in the medium and lower 
altitudes. Aspen is found almost everywhere below (3,000 feet, except 
in dense forests. Balm of Gilead occurs in the eastern foothills. 

SIZE AND QUALITY. 

Yellow pine, while thoroughly abundant in the Upper Swan and 
Clearwater valleys, is not as large and vigorous as in the lower and 
more fertile lands of the Flathead Valley, where it is sometimes 6 or 
7 feet on the stump and 100 feet or more high. Within the reserve 
it is seldom more than 3 feet in diameter and 90 feet high. It is fre- 
quently tire scarred and otherwise defective. 

White pine is seldom sound, and in addition to the common dry rot, 
much of it is dying. The dead trees are almost worthless for timber. 

Lodgepole pine, one of the hardiest trees, while seldom more than 
l'ii inches on the stump and 100 feet high, is usually straight, sound, 
and comparatively free from large knots. 

Nut pine, while hardly to be considered for log timber at present 
on account of its inaccessibility, is sometimes large enough for saw 
logs, and may possibly be in future local demand. 

Limber pine is remarkably crooked and knotty where exposed, as 
on the eastern foothills. On the mountain sides it is frequently 
found fairly straight and clear in sheltered places, reaching a diameter 
of about 28 inches and a height of 50 feet or more. Such good trees 
are exceptional. 



U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEV 



TWENTY-FIRST ANNUAL REPORT PART V PL. IX 




A- UPPER SWAN RIVER VALLE> 





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i 



Z." YELLOW 



IRE OF PLACID LAKE. 



U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 



TWENTY-FI3ST ANNUAL REPORT PART V 




A. MOUNTAIN SIDE, LOOKING EAST FROM CAMP CREEK PASS. 




B OPENING IN YELLOW-PINE FOREST ON JOCKO TRAIL, , MILE NORTH OF 

LAKE. 



PLACID 



AYRES.] LEWIS AND CLARKE RESERVE, MONTANA. 43 

Engelmann spruce, besides having an even distribution, is the most 
useful tree. "With lodgepole pine and red fir it forms the dense 
forest of pole timber on the exposed but well-moistened slopes, and 
with balsam makes large log timber in the higher gulches. Some 
trees about ?A inches in diameter and 125 to 130 feet high were seen. 

Of white spruce, only a few small trees were surely identified. 

Western larch, the most abundant timber tree of the valleys, like 
the yellow pine, is smaller than in the Flathead and Stillwater 
valleys. There it is about 4 feet in diameter and 180 feet high. In 
this reserve it is seldom more than 30 inches in diameter, none being 
seen over 3 feet, and it is seldom over 125 feet high. It is more 
knotty, but it seems to be quite as sound as in the lower country 
(PI. XI. A). 

Red fir becomes more defective to the eastward. It reaches out 
on the plains somewhat, but there, except in sheltered places, it is 
hardly able to raise an upright stem. In the foothills it is bushy. 
Ascending the mountains, it is found in some basins as large as 30 
inches on the stump and SO feet high, but so defective with dry rot 
that it makes very poor timber for the sawmill. West of the Conti- 
nental Divide it improves both in size and quality, but is still subject 
to dry rot. and many dead stubs are found in the forest without evi- 
dence of fire or other very plain cause of their death. The most 
hardy trees are on rocky mountain slopes, where the roots can reach 
constant water, but such trees are isolated, short, and knotty, and 
seldom suitable for log timber. 

Mountain larch, probably of no commercial importance, is found 
15 inches in diameter and To feet high. Though not cut and carefully 
examined the trees seemed generally sound. 

Balsam is never a large tree, at least none were seen more than 15 
inches in diameter and "<• feet in height. It is usually defective in 
the butt and full of small knots. 

('eilar is found 3 feet in diameter and 80 feet high, but this size 
is unusual. The tree was nowhere abundant, yet small areas of it 
occur, and it may lie of some commercial value for poles, posts, or 
shingles. 

Aspen is not notably different here from the aspen of other regions. 
It is occasionally large enough for log timber, but is seldom over lu 
inches in diameter and 60 feet high. Where much exposed it is reduced 
to mere brush. 

The other trees, silver fir, hemlock, cottonwood, and balm of Gilead, 
are small and so isolated as to be of no commercial importance. 



44 



FOREST RESERVES. 



ESTIMATES. 



Any attempt to estimate 4. sun square miles of very irregularly 
patched and broken forest in four months must have a somewhat 
Unsatisfactory result. While the closes! estimates are expected to 
come within In per cent of the actual amount, these can only lie hoped 
to lie within 50 per cent, but they are all believed to !"■ less than the 
actual amount. 

These estimates are made on the basis of practice in the Lake State-. 
viz, estimating as loo- timber every stick that will make a log 12 feel 
lone-. 6 inches in diameter at small end. and scaling two-thirds of a full 
scale. 

In making the estimate it was of course necessary to pass many 
square miles by with only a cursory view from a mountain or hilltop. 
Small representative areas were examined in detail, and on these the 
general estimate was based. These estimates are as follows: 

Eslimalt of timber in Lewis and Clarke Forest Heserve, Montana, by 'm "■>. 



Locality. 


i 11. M. 


i ords 


Eastern slope 

Middle Fork of Flathead 

Smith Fork of Flathead 


63,000,000 
1.54,000,000 

442, 360, 000 
1,985,000,000 

2,644,360, 


1,579,000 

l . 51 10, 000 
i, 311, 000 
t,660, 

12,869,000 


Total 



Estimate of timber in Lewisand Clarke Forest Heserve, Montana, by species. 

Feet. 

Larch 1, 265, 444, 000 

White pine - 26, 547. 200 

Yellow pine 235, 388, si (0 

Red Br - 647, 691 1, coo 

Spruce 35t '. I 122, I 

Lodgepole pine - 118,668.000 

YOUNG GROWTH. 



On the areas shown as recently burned the young growth is quite 
small and has been described under the head of reproduction. On the 
older burns it is common to find a dense stock of saplings; but these. 
as a rule, are principally lodgepole pine, especially on the slopes east 
of the Continental Divide. Engelmann spruce and red fir have made 
their appearance on some of these old burns, but rather subordinate 
to lodgepole pine. In rapidity of growth they arc inferior, and in 
numbers they constitute but a small proportion of the new forest. 









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U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 




TWENTY-FIRST ANNUAL REPORT PART V PL. XII 






mgm 












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A MILL ON SMITH CREEK, SOUTHWEST OF HAYSTACK BUTTE. 




Ji DEADWOOD PARTLY CUT, SOUTH FORK OF TETON CREEK 



ayees.] LEWIS AND CLARKE RESERVE, MONTANA. 45 

On the tracts that have been unburned for many years seedlings 
have sprung up as the old trees have died and fallen, so that these old 
forests are. composed of trees of all ages, and in them the saplings too 
small for log timber constitute a very important factor to be considered 
in forest management. In many cases the mature trees may be cut 
out for lumber and the saplings left will be a sufficient stock, partly 
grown, for a new harvest of logs. By carefully marking the trees 
to be cut and by using care to preserve this young stock, the continuity 
of the forest may be unbroken by logging operations. 

In this old forest the young growth is apt to have a large propor- 
tion of spruce and a small proportion of lodgepole pine, as the shade 
of the old trees is favorable to the starting of spruce, but unfavorable 
to the pine. Next in proportion to spruce, red fir is common, and in 
the more open places balsam follows next in order, while larch and 
lodgepole pine choose the spots that are most free from underbrush 
and grasses. Yellow pine seems to come in only on lands that have 
bare earth. 

The areas having old mixed forests with a fair stock of young growth 
are very few on the eastern slope, except in some of the smaller valleys 
near the Continental Divide. Such areas occur on the headwaters of 
the Middle Fork and on the western tributaries of the North Fork of 
Sun River; also on the Middle Fork and on the lower half of the South 
Fork of Flathead River. The lower portion of the Swan River Valley, 
although considerably scarred by tires, has much of such forest still 
remaining, especially in the tributary gulches. The upper portions of 
these valleys have been overrun by moderate fires that have thinned 
the forest, and while most of the land is restocked, the seedlings are 
seldom over 10 feet high. 

UNDERBRUSH. 

The principal species of brush are alder, willow, dogwood, buck- 
brush, waxbush, yew, squawberry, service berry, brittlebrush, and 
juniper. Beside these shrubs, some of the trees often grow in such a 
manner as to practically form an underbrush in the forest, especially 
after a light tire that has not seriously thinned the forest, yet has 
permitted seedlings to start. 

In general, the underbrush is not dense. With the exception of 
some of the damper ravines where yew abounds, the brush would offer 
no serious difficulty to taking horses anywhere, unless through the 
aspen thickets on the eastern slope (see PI. XI, B). 

Brush is most abundant, perhaps, in the valley of the Middle Fork 
and in the lower portion of the valley of the South Fork of Flathead 
River and in the lower portion of the Swan River Valley. 

In the higher altitudes, especially where exposed, balsam and spruce, 
and east of the Continental Divide limber pine, are frequently matted 



46 FOREST RESERVES. 

close to the ground, forming dense 1 n it small impenetrable thickets, 
although thej arc tree species. 

Except where kept in subjection by lie-lit fires brush is usually 
abundant enough to be a serious hindrance to logging operations and 
to prevent the ready starting of seedlings. 

CUTTING. 

There arc three small .sawmills within the reserve, one on the South 
Fork of Depuyer Creek, another on the South Fork of Teton Creek, 
and a third on Smith Creek, southwest of Haystack Butte (PI. XII. .1). 
The logs for these mills are taken from the mountain sides or the 
basins above them. 

For the mill first mentioned the logs are twitched down the mountain 
side to the stream, then floated with great difficulty about '2 miles 
through the canyon to the mill at its mouth. Some 300,000 feet B. M. 
have been cut in the valley of the South Fork of Depuyer Creek. 
This timber was spruce, red fir. and lodgepole pine. 

The second mill is near the head of the South Fork of Teton Creek, 
about f> miles from the plains. The logs are being taken from the 
mountain side near the mill aud are almost entirely spruce and lodge- 
pole, pine. On the forks of Teton Creek are several old mill sites, 
and. roughly estimated, a million feet B. M. have been cut on the 
South Fork and tioo.ooo feet on the North Fork. 

The mill on Smith Creek, but a short distance within the reserve 
line, is cutting logs from the high mountain side south of the head- 
waters of the stream. The logs are dragged with much difficulty and 
some danger about 2 miles down the steep slope. The timber used is 
lodgepole pine and spruce. There is little red fir in the basin. About 
a million feet B. M. of all kinds have been cut in this valley. 

Besides the log timber cut east of the divide, some 300,000 railroad 
ties have been cut and floated down to the Helena branch of the Great 
Northern Railway. Some 200,000 of these were cut on the North 
Fork of Sun River and approximately 100,000 on Dearborn Creek. 

All along the eastern front of the mountains the people from the 
treeless plains get fuel, house logs, and poles for fences and corrals. 
Almost every little valley that is wooded and that is reasonably 
accessible has a well-used wagon road leading into the timber. The 
people come and cut the timber as they need it, loading it immedi- 
ately upon their wagons without leaving any amount cut and lying 
upon the ground, even over night. Ranchmen, as a rule, bring their 
own teams, but for village supplies there are half-breeds living among 
the foothills who make a business of taking out the wood and selling 
it. A colony of these woodcutters was found on the South Fork of 
Teton Creek (see PI. XVIII, B), another on Smith Creek, and another 
on Dearborn, near the mouth of Falls Creek. Altogether about 62,000 



ayres.] LEWIS AND CLARKE RESERVE, MONTANA. 47 

cords of fuel, house logs, and fencing have been cut on the eastern 
slope of the mountains. 

Along the Great Northern Railway there has been a great deal of 
cutting for bridge timber and ties, and besides some material has been 
taken for fuel, cribbing, tunnel timber, wagon bridges, and corduroys. 
The construction camps also have taken a large amount. 

On account of lack of time no attempt has been made to estimate 
the amount of this material. It is said that all or nearly all the bridge 
and tie timber used in the construction of the railway through the 
mountains from Columbia Falls to Midvale was taken from the woods 
along the line. 

Elsewhere on the reserve the only cutting has been for the cabins 
of prospectors, hunters, and trappers, and the few squatters in the 
Swan-Clearwater Valley, and for trails or camp use. 

The logging operations of the Blackfoot Milling Company, on the 
Clearwater drainage, have worked up to but have not cut over the 
south line of the reserve. The logs are floated down Blackfoot 
River (see Pis. XIII. .1. and XV, A). 

FIRES. 

Extent. — Only the areas recently burned, or those overrun by fire 
within the last forty years, have been shown on the map. The older 
ones have lost the characteristics and the features of burns that make 
them noticeable in the distant view necessary in mapping them. 
They have either become barrens or have been restocked with trees. 
A considerable but undeterminable portion of the mountain ridges 
shown On the map (PI. Ill) as bare or destitute of forest has been made 
so by fires that have exterminated the stunted forests which were just 
able to exist under the severity of climate without the fire. 

Many of the eastern foothills now grassed prove, upon close exami- 
nation to have been once wooded; for here and there upon them old 
charred roots and stumps are found. The fire lines on the map can 
be drawn only approximately, for the effects of fire often fade out 
with an impreceptible border. 

Roughly estimated, the recently and severely burned areas within 
the reserve are as follows: 

Areas recently burned in Lewis and Clarke Forest Reserve, Montana. 

Square miles. 

East of tin- Continental Divide 600 

Middle Fork . if Flathead River or, 

South Fork of Flathead River and the Blackfoot drainage 485 

Swan-Clearwater Valley 240 

Total 1, 420 



48 FOREST RESERVES. 

Iii addition there are, as shown on the map (Ji. Ill), outside the 
reserve the following burned areas: 

Areas recently burned adjacent to Lewis and Clarke Forest Reserve, Montana. 

n miles. 

Along the ( treat Northern Railway. 134 

East of the reserve line 40 

Smith of the reserve line 206 

T. .tal 3S0 

This, added to the 1,400 square miles within the reserve, makes a 
total of 1,800 square miles of recently burned forest shown on the map. 

< 'auses of fire. — While some of these fires have no doubt been caused 
by lightning, nearly all have been due to carelessness on the part of 
men. The causes of fire may be grouped into four classes: First, 
those originating directly or indirectly from the railroad: second, those 
running in from the prairie: third, those escaping from settlers on the 
borders of the forest: fourth, those caused by Indians, hunters, and 
prospectors. 

The greater area, probably some 1,200 square miles, was burned 
during 1889. That year is said to have been exceptionally dry, and 
the smoke from the forest fires almost unendurable. At that time the 
Great Northern Railway was being built across the mountains, and the 
great number of men employed in its construction, and the many pros- 
pectors and claim hunters attracted by the opening of the country, 
made a combination of circumstances very favorable to the starting of 
tires. 

About forty years ago, also, many fires occurred. Most of the 
burns of that time have been reburned since. Where not repeated, 
they have either been covered again by forest or they have become 
mountain barrens. 

////- nsity of fires. — On most of the burns mapped the fires have been 
severe enough to kill all, or nearly all. the trees and to consume the 
humus (see Pis. XIII. B. and XV, B). The borders of the bums 
are generally sharp and well marked. But many light tires have also 
occurred; these have crept over extensive areas, killing brush and the 
smaller and tenderer trees. 

The fires have varied through all degrees of intensity. The severest 
have rushed through the tree tops consuming the needles and smaller 
twigs and igniting the humus lying upon the surface, which, even 
when burning slowly, has made tire enough to consume the smaller 
roots that were in the humus. The fires of lss'.t were generally of this 
sort. Many other fires have occurred, doing much less damage to the 
forest. Creeping slowly along, they have killed much of the vegeta- 
tion and even some large trees, but the lightest of them have merely 
thinned the forest, injuring many trees, hut still leaving many seed 
trees and a favorable surface for seeds to start. 



U. S GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 



TWENTY-FIRST ANNUAL REPORT PARTY PLXIV 




LEWIS AND CLARK FOREST RESERVE 

MONTANA 

Showing riisi rii >u I ion of cedar, hemlock .white pine and silver fir 

Prepared under the direction of Henry Ganneu Geographei in charge 



■ 



HI II .11 A1 KES 
Scale 



20 25 30 Miles 



Sketch contours 
189 



ayres] LEWIS AND CLARKE RESERVE, MONTANA. 4«) 

Damafft by fires. — The damage done by tires might by some be esti- 
mated as nothing- because the timber hud no market value at the time, 
but by the community and the State it should be viewed as an injury 
to a great natural resource. While the timber trees, the saplings, and 
the .seedlings killed had no immediate market value where they stood, 
they had a future value which has been destroyed. In addition, the 
tires have postponed the possibility of again having such a forest on 
much of this land within one hundred years, and on some of it a very 
much longer time, for the fires have consumed the product of centuries 
in humus, shade, shelter, and other necessaries for the germination and 
growth of seedlings. These higher regions are now frequently found 
barren, or lightly covered with grass or mountain plants, with a few 
roots and stubs remaining as proof that a forest was once there. 

1), ail iron,!. — The amount of material standing dead is roughly esti- 
mated as follows: 

Deadwood standing <» Lewis and Clarh Forest Reserve, Montana. 

Cords. 
Missouri River drainage ■>, |Q qqo 

Middle Fork of Flathead River, within the reserve lot)' 000 

Middle Fork of Flathead River, outside the reserve 150 000 

South Fork of Flathead River 600 000 

Sw an-Clearwater Valley, within the reserve 128 000 

Total - 1.17S, 000 

No effort was made to estimate the material that is down. It is not 
marketable and never can be until made accessible immediately after 
falling, as where logging and woodcutting are being carried on. 

Reproduction.— The burned areas east of the Continental Divide, and 
those of the valley of the Middle Fork of Flathead River are very 
scantily restocked, having little else than small lodgepole pine in strips 
and groups, usually near the unburned forest. 

In the valley of Willow Creek (South Fork drainage) there is a 
dense stock of lodgepole pine coming up through the network of fallen 
trees. 

The same condition prevails in the region about Spotted Bear, while 
on Hungry Horse the old burn has a very scant stock. 

In the valley of Swan River the "Big burn," about •', miles below Hol- 
land's ranch, has enough lodgepole. pine to cover it in about twenty 
years. 

The burn on Crow Creek Pass is principally occupied by brush, but 
has a sprinkling of spruce, lodgepole pine, and balsam. 

The large burn on the mountain west of Swan Lake lias a scanty 
slock of spruce, balsam, and lodgepole pine. 

The upper portion of Swan River Valley has a dense stock of lodge- 
pole pine and larch under the larger larch that has survived several 
incursions of moderate fires. 

21 GEOL, PT 5 4 



5(1 FOREST RESERVES. 

The burns <>n other mountain ridges, so far as stocked at all, have 
:i mere sprinkling of nut pine, Engelmann spruce, and balsam. 

The >tock on lightly burned regions, as a rule, is not only mixed as 
to species, but also as to size. There are some areas on old burns 
which are occupied by lodgepole pine only, hut these are the exception 
and are not large. 

Liability to fire. — l T ntil the appointment of forest rangers there had 
been no steps to prevent the starting or the spread of tires except the, 
carefulness of those likely to cause them. During the season of 1899, 
however, no fires were found burning, though several had been extin- 
guished by the forest rangers, who patrolled the trails and kept them- 
selves posted as to the movements of persons within the reserve. 
Along- the railroad the greatest danger of fires is from locomotive 
sparks, though they are liable also to be started by trackmen burning 
rubbish. East of the mountains the danger is from fires sweeping in 
over the prairie or from the lunch fires and smudges of the wood- 
cutters who come from the plains. In all the mountain area the camp 
fires of prospectors, trappers, tourists, and sportsmen are a constant 
menace. 

Effect of fin <■/> v<>iiij><isif!<>i< of forest. — The severe fires below 6,000 
feet have been followed by lodgepole pine where restocked at all (see 
PI. XVI. A), but the moderate fires in the lower altitudes and all those 
in the higher altitudes have usually been followed by a mixed growth 
in which spruce predominates. Many of the severe old burns that 
have been restocked have first been covered with lodgepole pine, under 
which spruce, white pine, larch, balsam, and other shade-enduring 
trees have sometimes started. A very dense stand of the original 
stock, however, does not readily admit other species, and lodgepole 
pine in such cases is apt to remain until the trees begin to die of old 
age (see PI. XVII, .1). 

Moderate fires may thin out the species most sensitive to fire and 
leave those protected by thick bark. A notable instance of this was 
found in the upper portion of the Swan River Valley, where a mixed 
stock of larch and lodgepole pine had been run through by light tires, 
which killed the thin-barked lodgepole pine, but left the thick-barked 
larch but slightly injured. On looking over this valley from the 
mountain side in October, when the leaves were colored, the upper 
half of the valley seemed almost entirely wooded with larch. 

RATE OF GROWTH. 

The rate of growth varies greatly not onh T according to soil and 
moisture, but also according to exposure and the influences of sur- 
rounding vegetation. The average increase on the stump in the low- 
land was found to be about an inch in ten years, accompanied by a 
proportionate growth in height. 



U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 



TWENTY-FIRST ANNUAL REPORT PART V PL. XV 




.t. DAM ACROSS OUTLET OF PLACID LAKE. 




B NUT PINE iPINUSALBICAULIS) KILLED BY FIRE, SOUTH END OF WHITE RIDGE, NEAR 
MIDDLE FORK OF SUN RIVER 




H ° 

O V 

o CO 

UJ ° 



O 
a. 





avrks] LEWIS AND CLAKKE RESERVE, MONTANA. 51 

Ascending the mountains, the rate diminishes until, near the line of 
perpetual snow, the annual rings are sometimes so thin as to be invis- 
ible to the naked eye. Height growth is especially slow in exposed 
situations, where even the hardiest species, as spruce and balsam, are 
compelled to lie matted on the ground without being able to form an 
upright trunk. The rate of accretion on the stump of open-grown 
trees in the lowland is sometimes one-fourth of an inch in one \ear. 
while densely crowded trees, especially those overtopped, may have 
only one-hundredth of an inch in one year. 

The rate varies with the species also, larch being one of the most 
rapid-growing trees and lodgepole pine one of the slowest. The 
average rate seems less than in the forests of the Lake States. Here 
a crop of timber trees can hardly be expected in less than one hundred 
years, even on the most favorable portion of the lowdands. 

ACCESSIBILITY. 

Along the eastern slope of the mountains there are few streams 
that are practically drivable for log timber, possibly only Sun River 
and Dearborn Creek, but Birch and Badger creeks may prove drivable 
with some expense. The timber on most of the streams must be hauled 
out when cut. The question of transportation, however, will probably 
be how to reach the local market, as the treeless plains immediately 
east of the mountains could consume all the timber this slope would 
produce, with the exception of the Sun River Valley. This stream 
being easily drivable would afford fair transportation to the more dis- 
tant or general market. 

The valley of the Middle Fork of Flathead River has its only outlet by 
the way of Java, on the Great Northern Railway , and the river would 
afford the most feasible means of transportation, as it would be drivable 
at moderate expense. Should a permanent system of lumbering be 
established in this valley an electric railroad would perhaps be desirable 
to take supplies up the river, and possibly even to haul up empty cars 
on which logs could be taken down, perhaps in successful competition 
to river driving. 

The valley of the South Fork of Flathead has also an outlet to the 
north, and the river may possibly be made drivable. although there is 
some doubt on this point, owing to the crookedness of several box 
canyons. It would be somewhat difficult to construct a railroad in this 
valley, because of many deep ravines cutting through the bench land. 

The valley of the headwaters of the North Fork of Blackfoot River, 
continuous with this valley and separated from it by an almost imper- 
ceptible divide, has so little timber that the question of transportation 
need not be considered immediately. The valley of Willow Creek and 
the headwaters of the North Fork of the Blackfoot have a very 
smooth bottom and railroad grading would be very easy. 

The tributary valleys of the South Fork of the Flathead are more 



52 FOREST RESKKYl -. 

difficult of access, and it seems probable that chutes and flumes may l>e 
the best means of getting the material out to the main valley. 

The Swan-Clearwater Valley, at least between Clearwater Lake and 
Goat ('reek, can probably be worked best by a logging railroad, as the 
si reams have many gravel bars and many places where logs would float 
out into the brush during high water. Logs put into Swan Lake could 
be easily driven to Flathead Lake, a favorable point lor manufacturing. 

The divide between the Swan and the Clearwater valleys is a low 
one. and offers no serious obstruction to a railroad if it should he 
found desirable to take logs over from Swan River to the Blackfoot. 

Throughout the reserve are large areas on the mountain sides that 
can be logged only by means of chutes. 

MARKETS. 

At the small mills east of the mountains rough sawed lumber brings 
$16 per thousand feet, and the deadwood is worth 25 cents a cord on the 
stump at Midvale, and would, doubtless, command that price all along 
the range southward. Log timber east of the range should be worth 
$1 per thousand feet on the stump in the more accessible regions, but 
quite a large proportion of it, possibly 50 per cent, has no value, because 

of difficulty of access. 

West of the Continental Divide probably nothing within the reserve 
has a market value to-day, owing to the difficulty of transportation. 
Improvements to make the timber accessible would doubtless be profit- 
able at once in the Swan River Valley, and capitalists able to make 
these improvements could probably afford to pay a moderate stumpage 
value on the standing timber. 

Outside of the reserve, along the Great Northern Railway, the 
mountain slopes, though steep and rocky, are fairly accessible, and 
the material on them should have a slight stumpage value under a 
thorough system of cutting and marketing. 

SUGGESTIONS FOR MANAGEMENT. 

Considering the configuration of the land, the isolation of the val- 
leys, the liability of fire, the difficulty of two or more operators work- 
ing in the same valley, the benefit to the operator of having control of 
a definite area and also of the means of transportation leading to it, 
and the advantage of having one person responsible for fires or depre- 
dations in a single district, it seems advisable that the right to cut in 
each valley be leased entirely to one person, and that tin 1 lease be 
made for a long time. This person could then improve the stream, 
make flumes or roads, establish a permanent mill plant, and carry on 
his business in conformity with a system of forestry that should, of 
course, be decided upon before the lease is made. Under such a sys- 
tem of leases there would be an opportunity both for small and large 
operators. 



U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 



TWENTY-FHST ANNUAL RFPORT PART V PL. XVII 




A, EFFECT OF REPEATED FIRES. 




]',. EAST SHORE OF SWAN LAKE, NEAR BOND'S. 



ayres] LEWIS AND CLARKE RESERVE, MONTANA. 53 

The small valleys east of the Continental Divide would be suited to 
those only who run small mills and who would sell their sawed lumber 
at the mill to people from the plains, and who would handle fuel and 
fence poles as well as log timber. 

The timber west of the divide must seek a more distant market, as 
there is not now. and probably never will be, any great local demand. 
The management of these lands should conform to the necessity of 
such operators as could manage them. 

REGULATIONS SUGGESTED FOR CUTTING. 

A mere restriction or limitation to certain sizes, such as permitting 
only trees over 12 inches in diameter to be cut, while perhaps a con- 
venient rule for loggers to work by, would be very injurious to the 
forest. In fact, a forest could hardly be in worse condition than this 
rule would bring about. The forest needs thinning, but this regula- 
tion would not accomplish that object. As the forest stands now there 
are patches of large trees and patches of small. Under this rule the 
tracts of large trees might be cut clean, while the patches of small 
would be left untouched, however much they might be in need of 
thinning. This is found to be the effect under the present system, 
and such a rule would not make any material change in the custom. 
The thing to be done is to provide a market for both large and small 
material and have the trees to be cut marked, so that while getting out 
marketable material the condition of the forest may also be improved, 
and after logging is over be left in as good or even better growing 
condition than it was before. 

MINIX<J. 

No ore is being shipped from the reserve at present. A few copper 
and silver claims are held on Smith Creek, and a few on the lower por- 
tion of the South Fork of Flathead River. At the •'coal banks." 
about 25 miles above the mouth of the river, a tunnel has been driven 
in the bank of the river along a bed of lignite coal. 

CLIMATE. 

There are very great differences of climate between the bleak and 
frosty alpine summits and the sheltered canyons above 5,000 feet. 
The dwarfed trees on the mountain ridges show the effect of cold 
weather, frequent storms, and lingering snow, although in sheltered 
canyons or gulches a short distance away they may be growing luxu- 
riantly at the same altitude. 

There is also a marked difference in the climate east and west of the 
mountains. During the severe storm or blizzard, with deep snow fall, 
that raged on the plains about the middle of October, there was in the 
Swan River Valley only a moderate amount of wind and only about 6 



54 FOREST RESERVES. 

inches of snow. While a temperature of about 20° below zero was 
reported from the plains, in the Swan River Valley it was Little below 
freezing 1 . 

A corresponding difference was found in the vegetation. Certain 
species which love moisture and are unable to endure much exposure 
are found in the western valleys, but do not appear east of the Con- 
tinental Divide. Among these are larch, white pine, cedar, hemlock, 
and yew. Some of the higher ridges east of the Continental Divide 
seem to have been wooded with a stunted growth of alpine trees. 
Now a few pieces of pitchy roots are found on the rocks above the 
present timber limits. Such places were noticed on Birch and Deep 
creeks, and on the ridges about the headwaters of Ford Creek. This 
suggests that the climate may be growing drier. The great number 
of red fir found dead on the eastern slope in places most subject to 
drought indicates the same thing. On the South Fork of Depuyer 
Creek, where some cutting has been done in a mixed forest of red fir, 
Engelmann spruce, and lodgepole pine, the mountain side was patched 
with areas of dead, or half-dead trees (see PI. XVI, B). One of these 
areas was found along a skidding trail, worn to a depth of 2 feet 
below the surface. Walking along this trail it was noticed that among 
the dead trees the bottom of the trough was dry and hard, while among 
the adjoining live trees it was moist. The dead trees were not older 
than the living, and no other cause could be found for their dying 
than the fact that the ground where they stood was drier than that on 
which the living trees stood. 

OCCUPANCY. 

Most of the land occupied by squatters east of the Continental Divide 
is on the plains, in the angle south of Birch Creek. These squatter 
claims were not all located in passing. There are probably 6 or S in this 
angle (see PI. XVIII, A). If the reserve line were drawn close to 
the foot of the mountain these would be excluded. 

On Ford Creek a ranch and a herder's cabin were seen. The ranch 
is not far within the reserve line. About the ranch are some 30 acres 
under cultivation, and the owner of this ranch, in company with others, 
had some 500 cattle and about as many sheep grazing on the hills about 
the headwaters of the stream. 

On Sun River, the ranches of Wagner and Hannon are well within 
the reserve. Wagner has a log house, barn, and pasture fence. Han- 
non, on Storehouse Creek, has some 20 or 30 acres in meadow, with 
house and outbuildings and several fences across the lower portion of 
the valley. He has some stock. Thirty of his horses were found 
grazing on the North Fork of Sun River. 

On Teton Creek, McGurk's mill, and on Smith Creek, White's mill 
lie within the reserve, and about them are clustered several houses 
occupied by the employees. 



U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 



TWENTY-FIRST ANNUAL REPORT PART V PL. XVIII 



■■ 


■■ 


^^^^1 


^^^^^^^ 


- . - — _ 


mim — K~C .^ 


— — • 
■ 
A.- 



A. HOUSE OF A SQUATTER ON THE RESERVE. 




B COLONY OF HALF-BREED WOODCUTTERS ON SOUTH FORK OF TETON CREEK. 



ayres] LEWIS AND CLARKE RESERVE, MONTANA. 55 

On Dearborn Creek, near the mouth of Falls Creek, and on the 
South Fork of Teton Crook are groups of cabins occupied by half 
breeds, who cut wood on the reserve and haul it out to market on the 
plains (see PI. XVIII, B). 

A lime kiln is being operated by Mr. C. V. Clemens near the mouth 
of Falls Creek. 

On the South Fork of Depuyer Creek. Alex. Yule has a sawmill at 
the mouth of the canyon, and above the canyon has several houses 
occupied by his loggers. 

On Willow Creek, or the east branch of the South Fork of Flathead 
River, Mr. James Donahue has a stock ranch and about 100 head of 
cattle and horses. A few cabins, built by trappers or prospectors, 
were seen here and there, in passing down the valley. 

At the coal banks, Batti's cabin was found occupied, and a few miles 
above this, on a branch of the main valley, there are prospectors' cabins 
occupied at times. 

In .Swan River Valley are several squatters about the head of Swan 
Lake, but they have few improvements except their houses. Between 
this and Hollands there are about 10 log houses, all of them unoccupied. 

Holland's ranch, at the mouth of Holland Creek, comprises several 
log houses and stables. Mr. Holland has several hundred acres fenced 
in. which he is using as pasture for cattle and horses (see PL XIX, .1). 

At the foot of Elbow Lake is a trapper's cabin, occupied at present. 

On the Clearwater, Mr. Seeley, a forest ranger, has occupied a 
ranch at the head of the lake for several years. He has recently built 
a larger house, near the foot of the lake, and within about one-fourth 
of a mile of the reserve line. 

FISH AND GAME. 

All the waters of this region are remarkably full of trout, of which 
there seems to be several species. The most abundant are about a 
foot long and weigh from one to two pounds. Salmon trout were seen 
on the South Fork of Flathead River, the largest being 36 inches long. 

East of the mountains large game has been hunted until a track is 
seldom found. 

In the center of the reserve, however, are elk, moose, goats, sheep, 
black- and white-tailed deer, and the several species and varieties of 
bear common in the Rocky Mountains. Blue grouse are abundant, 
especially eastward. The common ruffled grouse are rare eastward. 
but abundant in the Swan River Valley. The fool hen is common 
everywhere in medium altitudes. 

SCENERY. 

This region, though not as alpine as the Flathead Reserve, has many 
high mountains and rugged hills. 

There are a few glaciers, a small one at the head of Gordon Creek, 



56 FOBEST KKSERVES. 

one near McDonald Peak, and the Stanton Glacier, west of Essex, one 
of the largest in the range. 

The peaks about the Stanton Glacier, Scapegoat Mountain, Turret 
Mountain, Silvertip, and Pentagon on the main range, three or four 
points on the Kalispell Range, and McDonald Peak on the Mis- 
sion Range, are 8,000 to 10,000 feet high and afford excellent views, 
while the valleys, though much marred by tires, contain many 
attractive places. The opening of the trails by the forest rangers is 
rapidly making the region accessible by saddle and pack horses. 

EXPLANATION OF MAPS. 

It should be said, in explanation of the maps, that sharp lines on 
the maps for distribution of species and the limits of burned areas 
do not represent'the actual condition in the forest. A blending of 
adjacent colors and a fading out toward the prairies and toward burns 
would, in most cases, represent the actual condition far better, but as 
it would be impossible to print such a map the lines are drawn sharp, 
and ait 1 thus only approximately correct. The borders of light burns 
may actually be several miles from the lines shown on the map, because, 
creeping lightly over the surface, some of .them do so little damage 
that the effect is not noticeable from a distance, and the line could only 
be mapped by the slow process of tracing its course with compass, 
and pacing through all its meanderings. A few of the borders of 
burns are found sharp and definite in the forest, but where they are 
not found well defined in the woods the line is drawn on the map as 
near as possible where half of the forest has been killed. 

There was difficulty, also, in determining the lines on old burns that 
have been more or less restocked, and there may be many inaccuracies 
on this account. Where the dead trees of a bum are still standing the 
distant view of such a tract gives the impression that the line should 
be drawn at the border of the deadwood. This is approximately cor- 
rect, because usually the deadwood falls before any young stock that 
follows could become large enough to be called a forest. Where 
young stock, 15 feet or more high, was found on old burns it was 
marked as forest. 

In marking the distribution or habitat of species one never feels 
certain that he has found the extreme limit of distribution, but thinks 
more of the same kind may possibly be found beyond. In mapping, 
the outmost known points w T ere joined by lines that seemed, according 
to known habits of the tree, the most probable in consideration of the 
climate and topography. 

It should be said that red fir, lodgepole pine, alpine balsam, and 
Engelmann spruce have a general distribution over the reserve, with 
the exception that red fir and lodgepole pine are. not found above 7,000 
feet. For this reason the distribution of these trees has not been 
specially indicated on the map. 



U. S- GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 



TWENTY-FIRST ANNUAL REPORT PART V PL. XX 




.1. CONTINENTAL DIVIDE, FROM HEAD OF LITTLE BADGER CREEK 




C. DEBRIS FROM BURNT MOUNTAIN VALLEY TRIBUTARY TO DEARBORN RIVER, 
From s-.u1hwest slope of Mount Dearborn, 5 miles west of reserve line. 



Avp.Es.l LEWIS AND CLARKE RESERVE, MONTANA. 57 

Missouri i:ivi:i: drainage or easteux slope of 

( < O'llXEXTAL DIVIDE. 

Topography. — This tract, lying between the Great Plains on the 
east and the Continental Divide on the west, and between the Great 
Northern Railway on the north and Lewis and Clarke Pass on the 
south, is 12 to 30 miles wide and about 65 miles long, with an area of 
about L,600 square miles. A small portion of this strip is level, undu- 
lating or rolling prairie, with general eastward slope. The foothills 
are mountainous, often precipitous toward the east, the tilted rock beds 
dipping southwestward, with their upturned edges exposed in cliffs 
fronting the plains, especially along the parallel ridges north of Hay- 
stack Butte. The numerous canyons formed by the streams cutting 
across the tilted strata are usually sharp and deep. The altitudes 
range between 5,000 and 9,000 feet (see PI. XX, .1). 

Hoik. — The peaks, ridges, and canyon walls of this region are com- 
posed of gray limestone. Very little other rock was found except on 
Birch Creek and the Teton creeks, where schists underlie the lime- 
stone unconformably, and on Smith Creek, where injected tneta- 
morphie rocks appear. The rock of the plains and some of the Lower 
foothill- resembles the Cretaceous beds common farther east. Among 
the limestones are some beds of slates and quartzites, but probably over 
90 per cent of the rock on this strip is limestone. It is gray to huff 
in color and contains many fossil corals and brachiopods. 

Soil. — The soil seems fertile and productive when moist enough. 
Probably 21 < per cent of the area is without soil, the surface being bare 
rock, especially on the summits and steeper slopes. About the eastern 
foothills sonic alkaline spots are found, hut such areas are small. In 
mechanical composition there is endless variety. Some clays are found 
along the eastern foothills and. randy, in parts of the valleys among 
the mountains. Gravels prevail along the lower portions of streams 
or wherever alluvial deposits have been formed. Loam is found among 
the rocks on the slopes and. usually, near the hills along the creek 
bottoms. 

Subsoil. -Clay subsoils are rare, although they are found east of 
the mountains, where there are many lakelets and ponds in the foot- 
hills. Clay is also found in the valleys of the mountain streams above 
dams caused by slides and mountain torrents or by the action of the 
now extinct glaciers. The greater portion of this tract has its scant 
soil resting directly upon the rock, hut gravels and bowlder clays are 
lo he found on perhaps 30 per cent of the area, especially in the valleys 
of Sun River and Dearborn Creek. 

As a rule, humus is very light, owing to the dry climate, the fre- 
quency of fifes, and the steepness of the slopes. On about half of 
the surface there is practically no humus, and on the remainder the 
soil is seldom colored to a depth of more than 3 or 4 inches. Where 



58 



FOREST RESERVES. 



the foothills arc so well watered as to prevent tires burning the humus, 
as about the mouths of the ravines and around springy places, there 
is often a foot of black soil. Without careful observation one may 
be led to believe the humus much more abundant than it really is. 
by seeing several feet of dark earth in the banks of some streams. 
Such deposits are small and are only in places where wash from the 
mountains or hillsides lias accumulated. In forest which has been 
unburned for fifty years or more, as in the damp basins, sometimes f, 
inches of black earth are found, but such areas are neither numerous 
nor la rue. 

Litter. -Deadwood debris is not abundant. Although a large pro- 
portion of the trees are dead, the fires that killed them have as a rule 
been so recent that the deadwood has not fallen, while most of the 
debris from the older tires has been consumed by the later tires. In 
the remaining area of unhurned forest, fallen leaves have accumulated 
to a depth of several inches. 

Trees and timber. — The areas of forest that have escaped the general 
burn of lss!> and the other and lesser fires, both prior and later, are 
few and excepting along Badger Creek. Birch Creek, the South Fork 
of Depuyer Creek, the North Fork of Teton Creek, the South Fork of 
Deep Creek, and portions of the valleys of Smith Creek and Dear- 
born Creek the areas are so small and so remote and inaccessible as to 
make the timber on them of no commercial value. The amount of 
timber, regardless of accessibility, is roughly estimated on the basis 
of present usage in the northern middle States as follows: 

Estimate of timber in Missouri River drainage in Lewis ami < larh Fort si /.'. a rvi . Montana. 



Badger ( reek 

Birch Creek 

North Fork of Depuyer Creek 

South Fork of Depuyer Creek. 
North Fork of Teton Creek ... 
South Fork of Teton Creek ... 

South Fork of Deep Creek 

North Fork of Sun River 

Middle Fork of Sun River 

North Fork of Ford Creek 

Smith Creek 

Dearborn Creek 

Additional small areas 



!.->>.' timber. Green small wood. 



M/eet i:. itf. 

lo.iirm 

1,200 



2,000 

2, 000 

500 

3,000 

20, 000 

20, 000 

300 

2,000 

2,000 



Total . 



63, 000 



Cords. 

300, 000 

26, 

3,000 

24, 000 

70, 000 

5,000 

20, 000 

550, 000 

430, 000 

6,000 

25, 000 

120.000 

660, 000 



2, 239, 000 



U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 



TWENTY-FIRST ANNUAL REPORT PART V PL. XXI 




A. MILL ON SOUTH FORK OF TETON CREEK. 




B. LOOKING Uf 



ayres] LEWIS AND CLARKE RESERVE, MONTANA. 59 

The additional small areas mentioned are scattered along the eastern 
front of the mountains. They are small tracts that have escaped tire. 
The wood on them is short and knotty — fit only for fuel. There are 
also on these slopes and on the foothills, fairly accessible from bhe 
plains, some 200,000 cords of deadwood of inferior quality, most of 
it killed by the lire of 1889. 

The species composing this material are in order of predominance: 
Lodgepole pine, Engelmann spruce, Douglas spruce, and limber pine. 

Engelmann spruce is the favorite log timber among the sawmill 
men. The wood of this species is white and tough. Though knotty, 
there are few black knots. In size some of the largest trees are 30 
inches in diameter, and sometimes contain 500 feet of lumber. 

Douglas spruce or red fir is usually small and very defective. Trees 
appearing sound on the outside often open with soft red, rotten spots 
in the heart or near the branches. The largest are about 30 inches in 
diameter. 

Lodgepole pine is most generally distributed, and is mostly sound. 
While it is ignored and even considered a nuisance by some, its value 
will before long be appreciated. Farther west, where there is a moister 
climate and where larger and more sought timber can thrive, there may 
be some valid objections to its habit of densely occupying the ground 
immediately after a tire. Here it only occupies land on which other 
species do not thrive and produces lumber where no other species 
would. It reaches a diameter of 21 inches and a height of 70 to 80 
feet, and is more frequently clear than any other timber. Logs as 
small as 5 inches at the top are sawed, and the lumber is sold (rough) 
for $15 per thousand, the same price as spruce and red fir, but it is 
sold under the name of "white pine." 

Limber pine {Pinus flexilis) is usually so crooked and knotty as to 
be worthless for log timber and for the same reason is of little value 
for fuel. 

Nut pine {Pinus albicaulis), while common in the higher altitudes of 
this region, is of no commercial value at present because of its inac- 
cessibility. It is frequently found growing tall and straight. 8 to 10 
inches in diameter and 00 feet high. It is easily distinguished from 
other white pines by its purple cones. 

Cottonwood is found all along the lower streams, but seldom as log 
timber. 

Aspen is usually associated with lodgepole pine and often succeeds 
limber pine on the burns. 

Balsam is common only at high altitudes and is commercially unim- 
portant for timber. 

All species vary greatly according to exposure and moisture. 
Those that venture on the higher summits, which are both dry and 
exposed, form only mats upon the ground, while the same species in 
well-watered localities sheltered from the wind make large trees. 



60 FOREST RKSERVES. 

On the slope- a graduated difference is noticeable, according to the 
soil, moisture, and exposure. On the south side of Depuyer Creek 
where timber was being cut at an altitude of aboul 7,000 feet, Engel- 
niaiin spruce, lodgepole pine, and Douglas spruce, on moist soil,average 
150 to 500 feel per tree, but on the drier ground very few trees were 
large enough for log timber, and many of these were defective. In 
looking over the mountain side in this basin many small, brown areas 
of deadwood appeared in the green forest. These were first supposed 
to be the effect of fire, but examination proved them unburned, but 
on dry ground where no moist earth could bo found near the surface. 

Young growth. — Throughout the portion of this region facing the 
plains, an area of 600 square miles, tracts of young growth in good 
condition are rare. Where fires have run they have been so severe 
that over large areas no seed trees and no seeds have been left. In 
fact, on most of these burns the humus has been consumed. The few 
burns that have been restocked are about the basins at medium eleva- 
tions where tires have been less severe, owing to greater moisture. 
Such restocking is best near the unburned tracts. In moving south- 
ward from the Great Northern Railway, a scant restocking was found 
on the Two Medicine drainage covering probably 4,000 acres south of 
the railway. South of that area the following small tracts of a few 
aires were seen: On Little Badger Creek (south of the stream), about 
1,500 acres: about the head of Big Badger, some 5,000 acres; on the 
South Fork of Depuyer Creek, 500 acres; on Storehouse Creek, some 
2,000 acres; on Beaver Creek, probably 3,200 acres; on Ford Creek, 
some 500 acres; on Elk Creek, 1,200 acres; on Dearborn Creek. :;.ihmi 
acres; on Falls Creek, 2,000 acres; a total, roughly approximated, of 
37,000 acres. 

Underbrush. —Underbrush is scant throughout this region. Only 
on the dampest ground is there enough to cause serious resistance to 
travel. The prevailing species on the northern slopes are brittlebrush 
and huckleberry, while along the streams are clumps and narrow strips 
of dogwood and willow. In the higher altitudes much of the brush 
consists of species that under favorable conditions form trees. Such 
are balsam, limber pine, and Engelmann spruce. In the higher 
ravines near the Continental Divide, especially under Engelmann 
spruce, brush is often found so thick as to be a serious hindrance to 
travel, but unless accompanied by fallen timber it does not form an 
impassal >le barrier. 

Fires. — Outside of the reserve about 4 ."> square miles along the Great 
Northern Railway and 95 square miles in the foothills bordering the 
plains have been very seriously burned. 

Of the 1,000 square miles within the reserve nearly GOO have been 
seriously burned within the past 40 years. Besides this severely 
burned area there are many lightly burned areas that now have some 



U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 



TWENTY-FIRST ANNUAL REPORT PART V PL. XXII 




A. VALLEY OF NORTH FORK OF SUN RIVER. LOOKING SOUTHWARD TOWARD JUNCTION 
OF NORTH AND MIDDLE FORKS. 




B. HEAD OF MIDDLE FORK OF FLATHEAD RiVER. 



ayres.] LEWIS AND CLARKE RESERVE, MONTANA. 61 

dead trees killed by fire, but arc principally wooded. There are also 
many areas of old burns that have been restocked. The areas shown 
as burned have been severely burned. The fire of 1889, which seems 
to have run over most of this area, occurred during a very dry time, 
and most of the ground over which it ran has only dead trees and a \ cry 
small amount of humus left. Within this area this fire covered about 
530 square miles, most of which is now bristling with dead trees, except 
in places previously burned. On such places nearly all the material 
has been consumed. A previous lire covered an undetermined area, 
the signs of it being- on much of the ground, obliterated by later fires. 
On some 50 square miles, principally along the Continental Divide, plain 
evidence of the fires of this period remain. The dead trees and stubs 
left by these fires are better preserved in the high altitudes than in the 
valleys, as, being more isolated, they have partially escaped the later 
fires, which, on the foothills bordering the plains, have obliterated 
nearly all traces of the forest they have destroyed. Only occasional 
stubs and roots remain in the grass or brush. The dates given on the 
maps arc those of the later fires. 

Reproduction. — The area restocked is about (i per cent of the area 
burned over. Almost invariably the restocking has been with the same 
species that occupied the ground before. There is, however, a notice- 
able increase in the proportion of lodgepole pine, doubtless owing to 
the more abundant seeding of this species and the favorable condition 
for its growth after fires. Where spruce and balsam lands have been 
burned over the new stock is invariably sparse. That this is the usual 
habit of these species in restocking is inferred from the condition of 
all of the old forests composed of them. Such forests do not have 
trees of uniform age, but always have young trees coming in among 
the sparse old stock. Reasons for this condition are found both in tin 1 
scant seeding of these species in the higher altitudes where they grow 
and in their preference for shade in which to germinate and grow while 
young. Old forests of lodgepole pine frequently have young spruce and 
balsam as an undergrowth. The extensive, almost continuous burns 
on the foothills once partially covered with limber pine {Pirvus flexilis) 
have not been restocked and so far as covered with vegetation have 
only weeds and brush if recent, or bear grass and scant forage plants 
if old. The principal bushes are willow and aspen. Young trees of 
limber pine are found on the half barren knolls that reach out into 
the plains and on the recently and severely burned lands. The con- 
dition of the burned land is most desolate. Only about (5 per cent of 
it is restocked and the remainder bristling with deadwood. standing or 
fallen, sometimes has no plants growing upon it, especially if high in 
altitude or dry. Most of the area, during the years that have passed 
since the tires, has grown only a scanty stock of weeds, grasses, or 
brush. The best pasture grasses are seldom found on the burns. Pine 



62 FOREST RESERVES. 

grass and "bear grass" (never eaten by stock) are more prevalent on 
such lands than the bunch grasses, but some grazing land is now found 
on the once wooded portions of the foothills. Although some ten 
years have passed since the principal tire, only about half the burned 
area is now covered with vegetation, and that is of very much less 
economic value than the original stock. 

./';//' ctqfburnson watt rfiow.- In the valleys orbasinsmost thoroughly 
burned over the widening- of the streams and the increased washing- 
down of bowlders is quite noticeable. The valleys of Dearborn River, 
Ford Creek, and the forks of Teton Creek are much washed, the wide 
gravel and bowlder beds of the water courses being a prominent fea- 
ture of the landscape (see PI. XX, B). 

I>, ,kI, mod. — Wherever severe fires have recently run through the 
forests deadwood is standing. Even some of that killed by lire forty 
years ago remains standing, but only on the higher and drier portions 
where the climate is more favorable to the preservation of deadwood. 
Very little of such old material is suitable even for fuel and under the 
estimates only that killed within the past ten years which is standing 
and is suitable for fuel, fencing, or house logs is considered. None 
of the old deadwood is marketable as log timber. The estimate of 
the amount more recently killed is necessarily very rough and only 
approximate as follows: 

Estimate of deiuhroinl ',,, nillci/n cast <>f < 'ontinental Divide, Lewis mi, I Clarke Forest 

Reserve, Montana. 

I Ml,!- 

Two Medicine Creek 100, 000 

Little Badger Creek 500 

BadgerCreek ' 500 

Birch Creek 30, 000 

North Fork of Depuyer Creek . 10, 000 

Black Leaf ( Ireek 5, 000 

Other valleys, southward 10, 000 

North Fork of Teton Creek 10,000 

South Fork of Teton Creek 12, 000 

Other valleys, southward 6,000 

Deep Creek 3, 000 Total . . . 51 14, 000 

Some 20 per cent of this may have a stumpage value of about l'."> 
cents a cord. The remainder is probably worthless, because of diffi- 
culty of access. 

C,itt!inj. — All that portion of this region fairly accessible from the 
plains has been invaded by ranchmen and by others cutting for village 
use. Wagon roads were found leading from the plains up almost 
every stream, and over these wood and poles, when needed, are hauled 
in small loads. Often the material can be taken out only with great 
difficulty. It is often cut high on the mountain slopes and slid down 
to the roads. In some places it is hauled a long distance from the 
stump to the wagon, where it is loaded, frequently 40 miles from where 



Cords. 

Other valleys, south-ward to 

Beaver Creek s, 000 

BeaverCreek 5, 000 

Ford Creek 2, 000 

Smith Creek 1, 000 

Elk Creek 1, 000 

Dearborn Creek 80, 000 

Falls Creek 20,000 

Sun River 200, 000 



LEWJS AND CLARKE RESERVE, MONTANA. 



63 



it is to be used. Several small sawmills have been operated, and three 
were found running. On the South Fork of Depuyer (-'reek up to 
July IT some l.iiiin trees, scalingabout 300,000 feet, had been cut in the 
basins and floated through the canyon to its mouth, where they were 
sawed and sold rough for $16 per thousand. On the South Fork of 
Teton Creek is a mill about 6 miles from the plains (see Pis. XIX. B, 
and XXI. .1). In this valley about 1,000,000 feet of lumber and 
6,000 cords of wood and poles have been cut. On Smith Creek a mill 
has been operated some years, and from this valley about 1,000,000 feet 
of lumber have been taken, most of it lodgepole pine and spruce (see 
PI. XII. A). It is not far from the unsurveyed reserve line, but there 
is little doubt it lies within the boundaries. On Dearborn Creek some- 
thing over 100,000 ties were cut and floated to the Helena branch of 
the Great Northern Railway when that line was being built. In the 
valley of Falls Creek, a branch of the Dearborn, large quantities of 
poles and fuel have been cut. August 2 a party of half-breed Indians 
was found cutting 10 to 20 loads a day and hauling them to market on 
the plains. 

Owing to the desultory manner of such cutting, accurate estimates 
of the amount cut are impossible without much time and labor. 

Approximately the following amounts of both green and dry mate- 
rial have been cut within the reserve: 



Estimates of cutting i ast of < 'ontinental Divide, J,' wis <im! ( 'larke Forest Reserve, Montana. 



Locality. 


Curds. 


MfeetB. >r. 


Ties. 


North < if Badger ( 'reek 


2, 000 
2,000 
2,000 

.-,.1)110 




Badger Creek 

Birch Creek 






Birch to Teton Creek 






South Fork of Depuyer Creek 


300 

1,000 

600 




North Fork of Teton Creek 


6,000 
5,000 

22, 000 
25, 000 
10, 000 




South Fork of Teton Creek 




Teton to Sun River 

North Fork Sun River 

Sun River to Smith Creek 






200,000 






Smith Creek 


1,000 




Dearborn River 




150, 000 


Falls Creek 

Total 


3,000 










82, 000 


2, !« 10 


350, 000 



Transportation. — The point on this land nearest the railroad is about 
5 miles distant and the farthest is about 80. The streams, with the 
exception of Sun River, are of little value for transportation, as they 



6 1 F0BE8T RESERVES. 

arc rapid and rough and the diversity of their directions and the small 
amount of timber to be marketed from each would hardly warrant 
their improvement for log driving, although the water could often be 
used to advantage in bringing material from the mountain basins to 
the mouths of the canyons on the border of the plains, the most favor- 
able situation for mills. 

Demand. —Demand at present is purely local and only from the 
plains eastward, whence ranchmen and villagers look to the mountains 
for all their wood material. Sawed lumber brings $16 a thousand at 
the mill in the foothills and. according to accessibility, should bear a 
price of from *1 to f>3 a thousand on the stump. Fuel and fence 
polo, though nothing has heretofore been paid for them, should be 
worth 'lb cents a cord on the stump. The amount of material used on 
the adjacent plains will be greatly increased as irrigation is developed 
and the land capable of agriculture cultivated. 

Agricultural html. — There arc on this portion of the reserve approx- 
imately 150 square miles of land that have some agricultural value. 
Some of it is cultivated now and is very productive of crops not liable 
to injury by frosts. Timothy grows especially well. About 80 square 
miles of this land lies east of the foothills in that angle of the reserve 
reaching into the plains south of Birch Creek. This land should be 
opened to settlement. On the North Fork of Sun River, the tract 
next in size, are about ."> square miles of agricultural land (see Pis. 
XXI. II, and XXII. .1). The remainder is in small isolated areas here 
and there, not adapted to farming, but of value for raising hay and 
vegetables for the use of men employed in the forests. 

Irrigation. — The amount of water used in the reserve at present is 
insignificant. Perhaps altogether 100 acres are now under irrigation. 
These lands are some garden spots and hay land in the angle south of 
Birch Creek; Hannon's ranch, on Storehouse Creek (a branch of Sun 
River); and two ranches on Ford Creek. East of the reserve several 
large ditches are being used. The only one of these reaching the 
reserve is that tapping Dearborn River at the mouth of Falls Creek. 
The possibilities of irrigation on the plains eastward are great, as 
there is a large amount of rich, irrigable land. In view of the future 
demand for water, the destruction of the cover on the mountains is 
greatly to be regretted. Although the principal burns occurred only 
ten years ago, their effect upon the waterflow is plainly noticeable in 
the widening of the streams, the cutting of the banks, and the great 
deposits of gravel. 

Occupancy. — While no great amount of the land is utilized, small 
tracts are used here and there. Most of these are on the plains, in 
the angle south of Birch Creek. These were not examined in detail. 
On Sun River are two ranches, Hannon's and Wagner's (see PI. VI. /?). 
llannon has about 100 acres under cultivation and in pasture, while 



U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 






TWENTY-FIRST ANN 


JAL REPORT PART V PL. XXIV 














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J.. ENGELMANN SPRUCE ON MOUNTAIN SIDE, SOUTH OF UPPER MONTOUR CREEK. 




/,• STUMP LAND UNBURNT, ADJOINING RESERVE ON SOUTH 



ayres] LEWIS AND CLARKE EESEEVE, MONTANA. 65 

Wagner has 200 acres fenced in in pasture, and Hannon has about 30 
horses on the North Fork of Sun River. On Ford Creek two ranches 
were found; one, recently established, has no land under cultivation; the 
other, on the main stream, has about 100 acres in grain and hay. At 
the head of Ford Creek about 500 cattle and as many sheep were 
found grazing July 27. This stock is owned by several different per- 
sons, the Fords, having ranches on the lower creek, being the principal 
owners. About the mouth of Falls Creek are several cabins occupied 
by half breeds who cut and saw wood from the reserve. About 5,000 
sheep, said to lie owned by J. C. Fay, of Ilogan, Montana, were graz- 
ing in the valley of Falls Creek August 1. 

Water power. — The numerous streams (averaging about 6 miles 
apart) furnish many water powers along the eastern border of the 
reserve. Sun River, the largest, was about 300 feet wide and 3 feet 
deep, with rapid current July 24. Dearborn River, next in size, was 
100 feet wide, 2 feet deep, and moderately rapid. Ford, Deep. 
Depuyer. Birch, and Badger creeks in July were each 25 feet or more 
wide and 2 feet deep, with strong current. 

Mining. — Some prospecting for gold and copper is being done on 
Smith Creek. Otherwise no mining operations were noticed. The 
principal rock is limestone. 

VALLEY OF MIDDLE FORK OF FLATHEAD RIVER. 

Topography. — This valley lies partly within and partly without the 
reserve. About 576 square miles, in a fairly compact body, are in- 
cluded within the boundaries. The portion of the valley outside the 
reserve is a strip, seldom more than ± miles wide, along the Great 
Northern Railway. The portion within the reserve, while not reaching 
into the highest altitudes of the range is still very rough and moun- 
tainous, excepting along the botfcmis of the main valley and the two 
principal branches. With this exception there is very little level land. 
The principal areas are occupied by irregular mountain ridges and 
peaks, the highest of which hold snow in drifts throughout the year. 
The portion outside the reserve is simply a mountain side along Sum- 
mit Creek and the Middle Fork of Flathead River below the mouth 
of Summit Creek. 

Hock. — Limestone is the principal rock occupying the summits of 
all the higher ridges, but shales and schists are found in the banks of 
the river where it cuts across the range. Some beds of quartzite 
outcrop in the mountain sides, but these are much thinner than those 
in the mountains north of the railroad. 

Soil. — As the soil is derived principally from limestone, it may be 

expected to be rich in plant food; and. in fart, wherever there is moist 

earth, unencumbered by snow, vegetation is luxuriant. A large part 

of the mountain summits is bare rock. Much of this area was once 

21 geol, pt 5 5 



66 FOKEST RESERVES. 

wooded, but tires have so thoroughly consumed the mosses and humus 
covering the surface that trees could not grow there now. 

Litter. — The amount of litter in this valley is greater than in any of 
the others. On the burned areas the trees killed by fire form a net- 
work over the ground, except where tires have been repeated and 
severe. On the unburned areas, covering nearly all of the two main 
forks of the valley, the old trees and others killed by overcrowding 
have fallen and such an amount of material has accumulated that it is 
difficult to take horses through the woods. 

Hum ux. — Corresponding with litter, humus is very light or wanting 
on the burns and heavy where the forest is uninjured by the fire. 
Both the west branch and the east are covered by a dense growth of 
trees, and excepting a small area near the forks have escaped fire 
many years. This freedom from fire has permitted humus to accu- 
mulate to a depth of 2 or 3 inches over most of the valley. There are 
occasionally willow bottoms where black muck has a depth of a foot 
or more, but these have no large area. 

7/v , s mill timber. — Of this tract about 12-i square miles are timbered. 
Besides this. 1 1<> square miles are fairly covered with wood, about 180 
are naturally bare, being on the high summits, and 162 square miles 
have been severely burned. Outside of the reserve some 35 square 
miles are scantily wooded with spruce and balsam, with some lodgepole 
pine, larch, and red fir on the lower slopes — perhaps 20 million feet B. M. 
of log timber and 200,000 cords of other material. The remaining 
115 square miles are either burned or naturally barren. The species 
here do not differ from those in the South Fork Valley. Engelmann 
spruce is the principal timber tree. Larch, red fir. and lodgepole pine 
follow in importance. Balsam abounds on the higher mountain slopes, 
but is of little or no commercial importance. White pine may occur, 
but it was not noticed. 

Estimates. — The amount of log timber in the portion of the valley 
within the reserve is roughly estimated at 154 million feet B. M. 
Besides this log timber, there are about 1,500,000 cords of material 
unfit for the saw. The log timber is about 30 per cent spruce. 25 per 
cent larch, 20 per cent lodgepole pine, 20 per cent red fir, and 5 per cent 
other species. As to size and quality, there is great variety. In the 
ravines are tall and straight spruce of rapid growth and usually sound, 
while on exposed ridges are dwarfed and knotty trees often defective. 

Young growth. — Except on the burn on the main fork of the 
stream, there is no great amount of young growth. On the larger 
burns restocking has been scant and the trees are yet small. Among 
the older trees some young ones have started as the mature trees have 
fallen and made openings. These are of various sizes and are promis- 
ing for timber. But there are not in all cases enough to form a new 
stock of desirable kinds if the old trees were cut. The abundance of 
brush is a serious hindrance to the starting of seedlings. 



U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 



TWENTY-FIRST ANNUAL REPORT PART V PL. XXV 




A. SWAN LAKE, LOOKING SOUTHWARD FROM FOINT 3 MILES ABOVE OUTLET. 





















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Ji. LOOKING TOWARD McOONALD PEAK FROM SWAN-CLEARWATER PASS. 



ayres.] LEWIS AND CLARKE RESERVE, MONTANA. 67 

Underbrush. — Underbrush is more abundant than in any other por- 
tion of the reserve. The litter and brush make the trail through this 
valley almost impassable. Most of the hills east of the river, however, 
have been burned until they are almost free from brush. West of the 
river burns are older and brush has had time to reappear. 

Fires. — About 05 square miles within the reserve and 60 outside of 
it have been severely burned within the past twelve years. The hills 
east of the river are almost barren as a result of fire. The origin of 
most of these fires seems to have been along the railway, and they 
probably started either during the grading operations, or from sparks, 
cinders, or camp fires along the line since. It is said that at the time 
of the grading of the road there were two dry seasons, and fires were 
burning everywhere through the mountains. These statements are 
confirmed by the conditions in which we now find the forest. The 
fires at this dry time were almost invariably severe, killing all the 
forest through which they ran. Very few trees, indeed, are left 
living; only a few clumps in damper places, often several miles apart. 
Owing to the severity of these burns, reproduction has been scant. Most 
of the new stock is lodgepole pine, and most of this is near the border 
of unburned forests. Probably not over 20 per cent of the burns are 
restocked with seedlings of any species. The view over the mountains 
south of Bear Creek reveals a very few small unburned tracts in the 
most sheltered places, but the surface is nearly all bare, with the 
exception of a few dead trees, either standing or fallen. 

Deadwood. — Perhaps 100,000 cords of deadwood are standing 
within this portion of the reserve and 150,000 cords outside of the 
reserve line along the railroad. 

Cutting. — Within the lines of the reserve there has been no cutting 
except for camps and trails, but on the adjoining strip a great deal 
was cut during the construction of the railway forties, bridge timber, 
and fuel. No attempt was made to estimate the amount of this 
material, as there was not time. 

Transportation. — The only outlet for this valley is down the stream. 
The stream is drivable at moderate expense, and at Java touches the 
Great Northern Railway. The material outside the reserve, in the 
narrow strip along the railway, is, compared with the rest of the 
region, very accessible, as it is only necessary to chute the timber 
down the mountain side to load it on the cars. 

Demand. — Probably none of the material on this tract could be sold 
to-day at any price on the stump. East of this point, as at Midvale, 
and even near Summit, there is a growing demand for deadwood to be 
used on the plains eastward, but as this tract is on the western slope 
and below some of the heavier grades it could probably not compete 
at present with material from the eastern slope of the mountains, 
which now commands a price of only 25 cents a cord on the stump. 



68 FOREST EESERVE8. 

Agricultv/ral loud. — There is no prospect for agriculture in the 
valley except, perhaps, that on a few spots the vegetables or hay 
needed hy lumbermen or miners working in the valley could l>e grown. 

Water power.- -Water power is abundant, the rapid fall of the stream 
furnishing many mill .sites. 

Occupancy. —There is no one living within the reserve, but along 
the railroad below are some three or four resident squatters. Essex 
is quite a little village, supported by railroad work, this place being 
used as a coaling station and for keeping engines used in helping up 
the mountain grade. At the other stations — Bear Creek. Java, Paola, 
and Nyack — are nothing but section houses. 

Mining. — Along Summit Creek, not far above Java, are some 
mining prospects, staked during the season of 1898. Aside from these 
no claims were noticed in the reserve. 

VALLEY OF SOUTH FORK OF FLATHEAD RIVER. 

Topography. -The area of this tract is about 1,860 square miles. 
Excepting about 240 square, miles draining into the Blackfoot, of 
which the surface is irregularly mountainous, with very narrow 
stream bottoms, this area comprises the whole drainage basin of the 
South Fork of the Flathead River. This basin is about 92 miles long 
and from 10 to 30 miles wide. It is bounded on the west by the high 
and sharp Kalispell Range, on the east by the Sheep Horn or Stanton 
Range, which southeastward joins the Continental Divide and with it 
forms an irregular boundary. This range has very rough topography 
on its western slope. 

For some 40 miles above the mouth of the South Fork the valley is 
narrow and. excepting some recesses in the mountains eastward, fairly 
uniform, but above or southward the parallel ridges forming the foot- 
hills of the Continental Divide are sharply cut across by streams, and 
a very rugged topography is the result, 

The west branch of the South Fork has a fan-shaped drainage, the 
western tributaries of which head in the mountains about Pend Oreille 
l'ass and How through sharp canyons until they reach the main stream. 

Willow Creek, which joins the West Fork to form the South Fork 
of the Flathead, has a much broader valley bottom than the West 
Fork. Above the first canyon there is an area of gravelly land with 
a maximum width of about 3 miles. About 8 miles above the first 
canyon is a short canyon through a ridge which cuts the valley in two 
near its middle. Above this canyon is a willow bottom about T miles 
long and from half a mile to a mile wide. This glaciated U-shaped 
valley continues southward beyond the headwaters of Willow Creek 
to those of the North Fork of the Rl.e.kfoot. The divide between the 
two streams is so low that the headwaters of Willow Creek could easily 
be turned into those of the North Fork- of <!i ■ Blackfoot. 



ayres] LEWIS AND CLARKE RESERVE, MONTANA. 69 

Bock. — Limestone forms the principal crests on each side of the 
valley, and in the limestone are some beds of quartzite, the quartzite 
being most abundant southward, where a transverse uplift, which 
reaches across the whole Rocky Mountain Range, forms the divide at 
the head of the South Fork of (he Flathead River. Along both the 
Sheep Horn and the Kalispell ranges green schistose rocks arc found 
in occasional outcrops. The lower portion of the valley of the South 
Fork is occupied by Cretaceous or allied rocks, in which arc some 
beds of lignite coal. 

Soil. -Derived almost entirely from limestone rocks, the soil is pro- 
ductive wherever loam is abundant and well moistened, hut large 
areas are gravelly and too thoroughly drained. Near the mouth of 
the tributaries, however, there are usually some areas of very fertile 
soil. The mountain ridges are usually bare and rocky. The slopes 
below produce a vigorous growth of such vegetation as can endure the 
peculiar variations of excessive moisture and drought to which these 
mountain sides are subjected. Throughout the valley are many iso- 
lated small areas of wet land, commonly called sloughs, which now 
have a growth of wire grass. Hat grass, or blue joint. These have a 
deep accumulation of muck, which usually proves fertile after drain- 
ing and weathering. The depth of the soil is usually very slight, sel- 
dom more than '1 or 3 inches on the bench lands, although it may reach 
G inches, or even a foot, about the mouths of ravines. 

Siibsoil. — The subsoil is greatly variable. In general, the banks 
and benches along the river are gravel; yet, in many places, clay 
banks are exposed in river bluffs and miry tracts of clay can hardly lie 
avoided by the trails. For several miles below the mouth of White- 
water River much clay was noticed, both in the bluffs and on the 
river bottom. Some of these clay deposits are saline, especially near 
the tops of the bluffs, which arc often 200 feet above the river. The 
beds are stratified and probably settled in post-Glacial time from water 
held back by a natural dam, a short distance below the mouth of 
Bear (.'reek. Such dams must have been common as the glaciers 
were receding, for along the main valley many terraces are seen and 
at several different levels. As a rule, the gravels do not extend far 
up the mountain side, and above them the subsoil is practically 
formed from the local rock and consists largely of clay mingled with 
rock fragments. The general color of the subsoil is a reddish buff or 
brown. 

11 a hi us. — Humus is fairly abundant, except on burns and gravel 
ridges, where it is slight in proportion to the intensity of the burn or 
the dryness and exposure of the ridge. This soil has been formed 
since the recession of the glaciers and is but slightly colored by 
humus. The color seldom exceeds a depth of 2 or 3 inches. In the 
unburned forest, well-decomposed material is commonly found 2 or 3 



70 



FOREST RESERVES. 



inches deep. But where burned, all such material is consumed, 
except in the damper spots, or where the fire has been exceptionally 
light. 

Litter, — There is only a moderate amount of litter, even on the burns. 
Most of the fires that have occurred have been severe and have cleaned 
up the smaller litter quite thoroughly. That falling since the fire of 
1889 is coarse and principally the trunks of trees killed by that fire. 
In the unburned woods the trees killed by overcrowding and the 
branches that are overshaded and drop off accumulate to a moderate 
amount, but are seldom so abundant as to obstruct the passage of 
horses through the woods. 

Trees and timber. — Larch, red fir, spruce, yellow pine, white pine, 
and lodgepole pine are the principal timber trees. In addition to 
these, balsam, nut pine, cedar, hemlock, and cottonwood occur, the 
first two abundantly on upper mountain slopes and sometimes reaching 
to the valley bottom. Silver fir and cottonwood occur sparingly (see 
PL XXIV, A). 

Roughly estimated, according to the custom in the Lake States, the 
amount of log timber and other material above 3 inches in diameter is 
as follows: 

Amount of log timber abore 3 inches in diameter in valley of South Fork of Flathead River, 

Montana. 



Species. 



Larch 

Yellow pine 

Red fir 

Spruce 

White pine 

Lodgepole pine 

Balsam 

Cedar, hemlock, and others 



Total . 



Feet B. M. 



176,944,000 
35, 388, 800 

110, 590, 000 

88, 472, 000 

8, 847, 200 

22, 118, 000 



Cords. 



1, 000, 000 



442, 360, 000 



876, 000 
1, 096, 000 

300,000 
1,008,000 

800, 000 
50,000 



5, 130, 000 



The maximum sizes of the timber are approximately as follows: 
Size of timber in valley of South Fork of Flathead Hirer, Montana. 

Yellow pine 40 inches by 90 feet- 
Red fir 36 inches by 80 feet 

Larch 40 inches by 150 feet 

Spruce 30 inches by 100 feet 

White pine 30 inches by 125 feet 

Balsam 20 inches by 70 feet 

Nut pine 20 inches by 70 feet 

Lodgepole pine 24 inches by 90 feet 



U. S GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 



TWENTY-FIRST ANNUAL REPORT PART V PL XXVII 




LEWIS AND CLARK FOREST RESERVE 

MONTANA 

Showing distribution of yellow pine,white-barkpine,aiul limber pine 

Prepared under the direetion oi'Heiiry Gannell.Geoorapher in eliarge 



=0= 



BY H.B.HHES 
Scale 



Sketch contours 

189 I 

LEGEN D 



BYELLOW PINE 
. i Pinus pond 



i] WHITE HARK PINE 

j iPinus altncaulis) 



1 LIMBER PINE 

jil'hins flaxilis 



ayres] LEWIS AND CLARKE RESERVE, MONTANA. 71 

In quality there is a great variety, according to the .situation where 
grown. In general, the timber has grown in dense forests and is 
fairly free from large knots. 

The yellow pine, as usual, borders the prairies and other openings, 
and is limby above the first 25 or 30 feet from the ground. It is 
often fire scarred in the butt. 

Red fir, while less defective here than on the eastern slope, is often 
found full of dry rot. 

Lodgepole pine is usually sound and fairly clear, though small. 

White pine is frequently defective; in fact, it is seldom sound. Much 
of it is dying, and in dying the sapwood turns blue. Besides this 
defect, it is common to find dry rot in the trunks, and the many 
defective logs greatly increase the cost of logging. 

Some cedar 34 inches in diameter and 75 feet high was seen, but this 
size is exceptional. There are no large areas of this species. It is 
limited to ravines and other damp places. 

Nut pine is greatly variable in quality, seldom being suitable for log 
timber, and where suitable it is so inaccessible as to be of no commer- 
cial value. 

Young growth. — With few exceptions, there is a fair stock of young 
tiers throughout the forest. The tracts not burned have j'oung trees 
coming in where the old have fallen. Most of the burns in the low 
country are being fairly restocked, but the burns of 1889 were so 
severe that reproduction on them, as found on Hungry Horse, Upper 
Gordon Creek, and the eastern slope of the Kalispell Range, has been 
scant. Willow Creek, however, is fairly well stocked, but all the young 
growth there is small, usually from 2 to 10 feet high. But little of 
the unburned forest lacks sufficient young growth to constitute a new 
stock were the mature trees cut. On the burned land, however, the 
trees being small and usually all of one kind, the problem of thinning 
and securing a valuable stock would be a more difficult one, for the 
severe burns have little else than lodgepole pine. 

Underbrush. — The species most abundant here are alder, maple, 
spiraea, dogwood, willow, brittlebrush, yew, juniper, redroot, and 
squawberry. These are often dense enough to form a serious obstruc- 
tion to logging operations, especially on or near the bottom, where 
dogwood and yew are dense under the spruce. These species follow 
up the water courses into the gulches on the mountain sides, leaving 
ridges, especially the moraines, fairly free from brush. The northern 
mountain slopes, especially in high altitudes, have brittle brush and 
huckleberry in some abundance. The medium altitudes, both on the 
slopes and flats, especially if moist, have maple and yew often so dense 
as to be difficult to pass through; but the southern slopes and gravelly 
benches have some clumps of alder, service berry, squawberry, and 
redroot. but, as a rule, not enough brush to obstruct travel through 
them. 



72 F0BE8T RESERVES. 

Fires and reproduction. — On the Black font drainage about 175 square 
miles, and on the South Fork of Flathead inside of the reserve about 
310square miles, and outside of the reserve 10 square miles, have been 
burned over severely. Most of this area was burned, some of it for 
the second time, in 18S9. All the burns indicated on the map(Pl. Ill) 
have been severe, and very few live trees are left on these areas. They 
frequently have a network of fallen trees, among which some dead 
trees remain standing. Most of the humus has been burned off, and 
the earth is left bare. Along the borders of surviving forests condi- 
tions seem to be, favorable for reproduction. In such places the forest 
has furnished seed, which has found a good place to germinate in the 
bare surface left by the tire. Away from the. green woods, however, 
and in the high altitudes, where seeding is loss abundant and where 
the less productive balsam and spruce prevail, the young stock is far 
less abundant. In the valley of Willow Creek reproduction is espe- 
cially good, ami 40,000young lodgepole pine to the acre are frequently 
found. Some of the damper areas have a stock of Engelmann spruce 
and red fir or larch. The areas subjected to repeated fires have very 
little new growth, and this is almost invariably lodgepole pine. 

There is no doubt that some of the tires, especially on the higher 
ranges, are due to lightning, but most of those in the valley seem to 
have been set by Indian and other hunting parties or by prospectors. 
The trails most frequented by Indians, as the Jocko and Pend Oreille, 
are noticeably burned, especially about the camping places. The 
lower portion of the valley shows the effect of railroad fires, started 
either during the construction of the road, or by campers along the 
track, or by sparks from locomotives. 

Effect of fires. — These tires have greatly reduced the area of wood 
lands; in fact, the forest here is some 450 square miles less on account 
of them. The humus and fine litter consumed has probably averaged 
2 inches in depth, aggregating, approximately, SO million cubic yards. 

The effect of the fires upon the composition of the forest has been 
to increase the proportion of lodgepole pine. Probably 90 per cent of 
the stock coming in is of this species. The effect of tires upon the 
policy of forest management must be serious. The new stock of trees 
will not be large enough for any commercial use for nearly fifty years, 
and in composition these burned tracts are reduced to less desirable 
species. On old burns some inclination to return to the original 
species was found, notably on the head of the North Fork of Black- 
foot River, where spruce was found coming in under lodgepole pine. 
Larch, red fir, and white pine, too, sometimes reappear under lodgepole 
pine on old burns, but this reappearance is always slow, and market- 
able log timber can hardly be expected from these species naturally 
reseeded on burns in less than one hundred years. 




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ayi-.ixI LEWIS AND CLARKE RESERVE, MONTANA 73 

1>< adwood. — The amount of deadwood standing is only about 600,000 
cords, and this has no market value where it stands. Probably all will 
be fallen before it becomes accessible or marketable. 

( 'utting. — There has been no cutting- on this tract except for cabins 
and camp use, unless it be in the extreme northwest corner of the 
reserve, which could not be located exactly, as the boundary lines 
there have not been surveyed. Many ties were made in that vicinity 
and put into the track during the construction of the road. 

Transportation. — The only way to get timber out of this region 
is northwestward, or down the stream. Were it not for several bad 
canyons, the river would be drivable for at least 80 miles above its 
mouth. It is possible these canyons can be improved so as to per- 
mit log driving, but the expense would be great. Elsewhere on 
the river driving would often be difficult because of the. wide bed 
of the river and the frequent gravel liars. A railroad along the river 
could lie built with easy grade, but the expense would be considerable. 
owing to frequent cut banks and ravines, and it is questionable whether 
the timber interests alone would warrant the construction of such a 
road. 

Demand. — At present, excepting possibly in the extreme north- 
western part of the reserve, timber has no market value where it 
stands. Prices at the nearest mill. Columbia Falls, are £:-! per M, 
and fuel, at present, hardly commands any stumpage. 

Agricultural land. — While some vegetables and hay would doubt- 
less grow in favorable spots throughout the valley, the liability of 
destructive frosts at any time during the season precludes the possi- 
bility of commercial agriculture. Perhaps 80 square miles are level 
enough to be arable, but much of this is gravelly and unsuitable for 
agriculture except for garden spots, to supply lumber or mining 
camps, in case of special need. 

Irrigation. —Very little water, indeed, will ever be used for irriga- 
tion in this valley, but it is possible that it may be used in the Flathead 
Valley outside of the mountains, where agriculture, though carried on 
at present without irrigation, would be improved by it. 

Occupancy. — There are about half a dozen cabins in the valley, but 
these are not occupied all the year. They belong to prospectors, who 
use them only while doing their assessment work. 

Watt r powt r. -Water power is abundant along the main stream and 
three of the tributaries. Spotted Bear and two streams from the west 
are huge enough to furnish power for sawmills. There are several 
very favorable sites for dams, and large amounts of water could be 
held above the canyons. 

Mining. — No ore has been shipped from the valley, but several 
claims are held in the lower portion for coal, gold, silver, and copper. 



74 FOREST RESERVES. 

SWAX-CLEAKWATER VALLEY. 

Topography. — This tract, having an area of about 72.S square miles 
is about 59 miles long and varies from 8 to 16 miles wide. The Mi> 
sion Range on the west and the Kalispell Range on the east are high 
and sharp, and the low lands, increasing in width above the lakes, are 
undulating to rolling, and remarkably uniform in general topographic 
features. 

Rod-. — While outcroppings of limestone and quartzite, underlain 
by green schists, are almost continuous along the bordering mountain 
ranges, no outcrops were found in the bottom of the valley. There 
are certainly very few there. The bowlders of the valley are in gen- 
eral of the same material as found in place on the mountain sides, 
whence they have been brought by glacial action. 

Soil. — About the head of Swan Lake clays are prevalent and reach 
continuously some distance up the valley, as far as Soup Creek. 
Above this point, both up Swan River and its lateral tributaries, the 
soil is greatly varied, though in general a glacial till, with beds or 
banks of bowlder clay, and morainic ridges reaching out of the moun- 
tain gorges. The material left by the glaciers has been considerably 
modified by the later action of the water, especially near the river. A 
short distance above Lion Creek, or about 16 miles in a direct line above 
Swan Lake, sand and gravel become more prevalent over the general 
surface, and instead of large bowlders and finer sediments, as found to 
the northward, there are south of this point ridges and mounds of 
sandy and gravelly material with intervening meadows, often without 
surface drainage. Occasionally clay tracts are found in this portion 
of the valley, but this clay does not seem more productive than the 
sand. It is, in fact, sometimes found nearly barren. The "big 
burn," having an area of about 5 square miles, about 28 miles above 
the lake, has a clayey soil, and is only about half covered with vegeta- 
tion (lodgepole pine). 1 

In preceding southward above the "big burn," little other than sandy 
or gravelly land was seen, except in the bluffs along water courses. 
As regards productiveness, the lower portion of the valley, or that 
within 16 miles of Swan Lake, which is more clayey, has with few 
exceptions a heavy covering of vegetation. This is in contrast with 
the lands of the upper valley, where the rather scant covering of larch 
and lodgepole pine at first gives the impression of a very poor soil, but 
upon close examination it is found that the sparseness of tree growth 
is largely due to frequently occurring tires which have thinned the 
forest. The soil of the upper portion of the valley is really better than 
one would consider it is in passing hastily through it. 

i The condition of this land is very much like the tract noted in the year 1898, on the Xorth Fork 
of Flathead River, and the cause of such barrenness invites study. 



U. S. GEOLOGICAL .SURVEY 



TWENTY-FIRST ANNUAL REPORT PART V PL. XXX 




A. STUMP LAND IN T. 26 N., R. 19 W., RESTOCKED DENSELY WITH RED FIR. 




11. LARCH AND LODGEPOLE PINE ON BURN OF 1889. 



ayres] LEWIS AND CLARKE RESERVE, MONTANA. 75 

Subsoil. — Bowlder clay and gravels, as usual in these once glaciated 
mountain valleys, constitute the greater portion of the subsoil. For 
about 10 miles above Swan Lake, however, a depressed, narrow 
strip in the central portion of the valley, which seems to have been 
occupied by the lake, has silts and fine alluvium, varied according to 
accidents in the work of streams that brought such material into the 
lake. Outside of this depression, however, both between it and the 
mountains, and in the valley above, or south of it, the recent deposits 
of tine material are not abundant, and bowlder clays, gravels, sands, 
and silts are almost the only subsoils. 

Very deep beds of very porous gravel, which cause prairie openings 
common in many of the mountain valleys, because of too thorough 
subdrainage for trees, are not common, although the greater portion 
of the upper valley is so dry as to be adapted only to such dry-land 
trees as larch and lodgepole pine. 

Humus. — Humus is light except in the lower portion of the valley, 
where it has been less burned and where it seems damper than above, 
or south of the old lake basin, which extends about 16 miles south of 
the present head of Swan Lake. Below the benches along the small 
streams there is frecpiently quite a depth of black earth, but in the 
morainic region nearer the mountains and southward across the main 
vallev there is but little humus outside of the depressions that are so 
damp as to never burn deeply. 

Litter. — Litter is correspondingly light where burns have been at 
all recent and abundant where the area is too damp to burn (see 
Pis. XXIII, B, and XXVI, A). Leaves and fine debris, however, have 
seldom accumulated to a depth of more than 3 or -i inches. Probably 
three-fourths of the whole area of the valley has less than 2 inches of 
such litter, the scantiness of litter being due principally to fire. 

Trees and timbt r. — The principal timber trees of the valley are larch, 
red fir, and yellow pine. Others that will yield a considerable amount 
are spruce, white pine, and lodgepole pine. Besides these are balsam, 
cedar, nut pine, hemlock, aspen, and cottonwood, of little commercial 
value, but possibly of use for some purpose. 

In distribution the first three are confined to the valley bottom, the 
benches, and the lower foothills, and the nut pine and balsam are 
usually limited to the mountain ranges. The hemlock, cedar, and 
white pine are found only in sheltered, damp places, as in the ravines 
or on the lower mountain sides, and the cottonwood is confined to the 
banks of streams; otherwise the species are fairly well mixed, with 
perhaps the exception of spruce, which seeks constant moisture and 
avoids dry subsoil (see Pis. XXVI, B, and XXVIII, A). 

In size the trees in this valley are hardly as large as in some other 
localities. The yellow pine, for instance, on the flat between Holt and 
Columbia Falls, reaches a diameter of 6 feet, even 7 feet on the stump, 



(6 KoRKST RE8EKVK8. 

unci a height of 150 feet, while above Swan Lake the largest trees 

noticed were about 4 feet in dia ter and LOO feet high. Lodgepole 

pine was rarely seen over 14 inches in diameter and To 1 feet high, while 
spruce is seldom found over 30 inches in diameter and 90 feet high 
(-ee PI. XXYIII. B). Although constituting the greater portion of 
the growth <>n the higher mountain sides, it has a size suitable for loo- 
timber only in gulches or on other dam]), fertile land. The amount of 
log timber in the valley, roughly estimated to 8-inch top, is as follows: 

Log limber in Swan-Clearwater Valley, Montana. 

M. feet B. m. 

Larch 1 , 1 1;„ i | 

Yellow pine 100,000 

White pine in. in mi 

Red fir 500,000 

Spruce ,. i ;.-,, mm 

Lodgepole pine 30, 000 

Total 1 1 865, 1 K 10 

This estimate is regardless of accessibility, of present custom of cut- 
ting, and present demand. It is simply intended to express a safe 
estimate of the amount of log timber. For the whole amount of wood 
material in the valley there should be added that too small for log 
timber, which has been very roughly estimated in cords, as follows: 

Timber in SwanrClearwater Valley too small for log timber. 

Cords 

Larch l, 200, I 

Lodgepole pine 1,000,000 

Yellow pine _ 100,1 

Spruce . 900, 01 10 

Balsam 500, 

Red fir 400, 000 

Other species 5i;i i, nun 

Total 4, 660, 000 

Young or sapling growth. — This is abundant, except where repeat- 
edly burned, and its volume is fairly represented by the number of 
cords in the table above. The lower portion of the valley especially 
is well stocked with spruce, red fir, and larch subordinate to large 
trees on the same land (see PL XXIV, B). The upper portion of the 
valley is characterized by its young stock of lodgepole pine and larch, 
while the mountain slopes, especially the western slope of the Kalispell 
Range, are brushy with alder, willow, and mapleand only a sprinkling 
of larch, lodgepole pine, balsam, red fir, and aspen. In fact, the condition 
and distribution of the young growth is much affected by tire (see PL 
XXIX. .1). It is not only thinned by it. but the composition of the 
forest is made very irregular, and we find it patched by stock of 
various ages and by areas imperfectly occupied, or occupied by species 





O u. 

-J o 



ayres.j LEWIS AND CLARKE RESERVE, MONTANA. 77 

promising no value. As a rule the tendency in the valley is toward a 
stock of more valuable species. In the lower or northern portion 
spruce and red fir are coming in where the older trees subside, and in 
the higher or southern portion of the valley larch is becoming more 
abundant as the lodgepole pine is injured by fire. An exception to this 
general tendency is found on the more severely burned portions. These 
almost invariably have been preempted by lodgepole pine in varying 
degrees of density, often to be completely denuded by succeeding fire 
(see PI. XXX, B). The yellow-pine lands, both about the headwaters 
of Swan River and in the Clearwater drainage, are, as usual, more 
free from young stock than the forests of other species, yet some of 
these tracts have a fair sprinkling of red fir. larch, and spruce coming 
in underneath the pine (see PL XXX, .1). As a rule these species 
do not reach tree size, being killed while small by repeated tires, while 
the yellow pine standing over them, protected by its thick bark, 
remains and furnishes favorable conditions for a new lot of seedlings, 
such as those just destroyed, to start again (see PI. XXIX. B). 

So much for the lowlands. The mountain sides have different tenden- 
cies. On them balsam and spruce compete with the lodgepole pine and 
larch, and toward the summits, or above <i,000 feet, usually crowd 
them out. especially in the gulches, although the combs and drier por- 
tions of the mountain spurs are frequently found with very few trees 
following the fire. Many areas, in fact, have nothing but brush, 
though not burned over during the past thirty years. In general, the 
valley is well stocked with saplings to constitute a new stock when 
the mature timber may be cut. 

Underbrush. — The common bushes of the valley are alder, willow, 
dogwood, maple, mountain alder, spirsea, yew, redroot, and juniper. 
The first three, usually limited to wet places, especially along streams, 
often occupy smaller areas exclusively, but do not thrive as an under- 
growth. Yew seems to be the only underbrush that forms a serious 
obstruction to travel with horses through the woods, and as the dis- 
tribution of this shrub is not general, but is limited to ravines and 
gulches in the lower valley, underbrush here will be of minor impor- 
tance in logging operations. It will still have a serious effect upon 
the composition of the forest, as burned areas are often first reoc- 
cupied by brush, which prevents immediate restocking with trees. 
( )\ it a very large portion of the valley young trees form the principal 
undergrowth, and while these might be considered as underbrush, they 
have been described as young growth. 

Fires. — Probably 90 per cent of the valley has been burned over 
within the past one hundred years, but evidences of such burns are so 
hidden by the forest left growing over them or grown since that it has 
been found impracticable to map all such areas (see PI. XXXI. A). 
Only those are indicated on the map which have been recently and 



78 FOREST RESERVES. 

severely burned and on which evidence remains plain. After some 
forty years the trees killed by lire have usually fallen, the ground 
commonly has been reoccupied by forest and practically re-covered, 
and its character has changed from that of burn to woodland. Large 
areas, especially in the upper part of the valley, have been recently 
burned over without showing much effect of the fire, especially such 
effects as may be seen from a distance. While some 600 square miles 
of the valley have probably been burned over within the past one 
hundred years, only about 240 square miles, or approximately one- 
third of the whole area, are shown on the map as burned. 

Rejn'inl 'iicI'idii. — The condition of these more prominent burns is 
varied. The mountains, especially on the western slope of the Kalispell 
Range, are either bare or scantily dotted with clumps of bushes or with 
strips of forest that have escaped fire because sheltered by rocks or 
water courses. About 6 miles below or north of Holland's ranch is a 
burn of about 6 square miles in area that has scarcely an} r other 
species than lodgepole pine following the tire. Reaching across the 
valley at this point, and occupying substantially all the land between 
the mountains above it, is a mixed forest of larch and lodgepole pine, 
the composition of which has been greatly modified by fire. The fires 
here have not, as a rule, been very severe. The greater portion of the 
larch has survived, and as most of the lodgepole pine has been killed 
the proportion of larch has greatly increased". Because of fires the 
great portion of the valley has now a network of fallen trees, either 
under a surviving portion of the original forest or under a new growth 
that has sprung up since the tire. Owing to the thickness of their 
bark the larger larch, red fir, and yellow pine trees endure fire better 
than other species and small trees. These are gradually gaining in 
proportion, while the lodgepole pine, except on the severest burns, is 
diminishing. On the 3 r ellow-pine lands the effect, while never harm- 
less, is often hardly noticeable after the fire has passed. Such lands 
are seldom without small seedlings, and as a light fire is sufficient to 
kill and even consume them the evidence of damage done is difficult or 
impossible to find, even when, from the foresters' point of view, it 
is serious. The burns on the mountain sides, however, leave plain 
evidence to be seen for many years. The drought on these too thor- 
oughly drained slopes is often so severe that all dead vegetable 
material burns readily, and even the smaller roots of living trees are 
consumed, leaving mountains almost entirely bare, to be restocked 
very slowly, indeed, if at all. The western slope of the Kalispell 
Range south of Swan Lake is now almost bare. The rarity of seeding 
years and of climatic conditions favorable to the germination of seeds 
in these high altitudes, especially on exposed slopes, has prevented 
restocking of trees, and even the reappearance of brush has been slow 
and imperfect. The western, or Mission Range, or the eastward slope 







1 " 






ayees.] LEWIS AND CLARKE RESERVE, MONTANA. 79 

of it, has a much less barren appearance and has been much less 
burned. The burn about Crow Creek Pass was visited, and in ascend- 
ing the mountain was found to be less well stocked with trees among 
the rather dense growth of alder, maple, willow, and huckleberry 
brush. Ascending farther and reaching an altitude of about (5,000 
feet, few seedlings were seen other than balsam and Engelmann spruce. 
The usual tardiness of restocking on these mountain slopes makes 
plain the importance of keeping them stocked, and this can be done 
only by preventing lire. The effect of burns in causing a change of 
species is very noticeable over a wide area of nearly 100 square miles 
in the upper portion of the Swan River Valley. Here, while severe 
fires have killed all the trees on some small areas, the greater areas 
have been only moderately burned, yet severely enough to kill the 
most sensitive trees. Prior to the lire the stock was principally lodge- 
pole pine, with which larch was mingled in varying proportions, 
usually about half. The tires have killed most of the lodgepole pine 
and left most of the larch, and now from the mountain side the forest 
appears nearly all larch, but in passing through it a dense network 
of fallen lodgepole pine is found under the larch, and growing up 
through this fallen material are, as a rule, young larch, although lodge- 
pole pine reappears on the least shaded spots (see PI. XXXI, B). 
This is a remarkable exception to the usual effect of fires upon the 
composition of the forest, as they generally increase the proportion of 
lodgepole pine. 

Dead wood. — There is no deadwood of commercial value, as the diffi- 
culty of access renders it worthless where it is found. There are, 
however, in the valleys probably about 128,000 cords of deadwood that 
could be used for fuel or fencing were it brought to market. The 
greater portion of this deadwood is high on the mountain sides, prin- 
cipally west of Swan Lake. 

( hitting. — No cutting has been done except for cabins, fences, roads, 
trails, and bridges. 

Transportation. — The streams after improvement promise feasible 
transportation for about half of the timber. The remainder must be 
first hauled on cars or flumed to driveable water. The abundance of 
water power and uniform down grade available promise most economy 
by use of electric railways. The material in the Clearwater drainage 
would naturally be floated down the Blackfoot River, although there 
is no serious obstacle to building a railway across the divide and bring- 
ing all dead material down the Swan River, at the mouth of which is 
an admirable location for a large and permanent mill plant. 

Demand. — At present stumpage values in this tract, and even on 
more accessible land northward in the Flathead Valley, are nominal. 
Good timber there goes for 75 cents to %\ per thousand feet on the 
stump. Within the reserve very little could be realized without 
extensive developments to make the timber more accessible. 



80 FOREST RESERVES. 

Agricultural land. — Commercially, agriculture within the valley will 
never be important. Vegetables, small fruits, and hay, perhaps some 
grain, would grow, but only in a small way. and stimulated by the dif- 
ficulty of bringing such material from outside. There are some 200 
square miles in the valley that are smooth enough to be arable. 

Grazing. — There are about a dozen small prairie openings in the 
valley, probably 500 acres of upland and the same area of slough. 
Snow evidently falls deep and lies long, but hay is plenty, and a few 
cattle may be kept with some care. 

Occupancy. There is no stock now in the valley except at Holland's, 
where there are about, 30 horses and a dozen cattle. On Clearwater 
Lake Mr. Seeliy has been living some time, and has recently erected a 
substantia] house. About the head of Swan Lake are 4 resident squat- 
ters and on Flathead Lake are It. Scattered through the valley are 
15 cabins, none of which were found occupied, though 2 of them were 
locked and evidently used at times. 

Water power. — Below Swan Lake are many tine water powers on 
the large and constant outlet of the lake. The smaller streams above 
the lake, excepting Holland Creek and the outlet of Long Lake, are of 
uncertain value, as they become quite low in autumn, although strong 
in spring. Holland Creek and the outlet of Long Lake having natural 
reservoirs, are much more steady and may be greatly improved for 
water power by building dams at the outlet of the lakes. 

Minim/. — There are no mining operations at present, and no pros- 
pects were found or heard of on which assessment work was being 
done. 



TWENTY-FIRST ANNUAL REPORT PART V PL .III 



U S GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 



Midvaie 

4785 




(«.-ini)i.i«ik Past 



LEWIS AMI CLARK FOREST RESERVE 
MONTANA 









liMTt* 



!■•■! ■ 



